Hamburg, March 12: A study on rhesus monkeys says that Influenza A infection during pregnancy can affect brains of babies.
The study found that rhesus monkey babies born to mothers who had the flu while pregnant had smaller brains and showed other brain changes similar to those observed in human patients with schizophrenia.
It is the first study done with monkeys that examines the effects of flu during pregnancy and was done at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lead author Sarah J. Short, Ph. D. worked on the study while earning her doctorate at Wisconsin and now is a post-doctoral fellow at UNC working with John H. Gilmore, M. D., professor of psychiatry in the UNC School of Medicine.
Short said,” This was a relatively mild flu infection, but it had a significant effect on the brains of the babies. While these results aren’t directly applicable to humans, I do think they reinforce the idea, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that pregnant women should get flu shots, before they get sick.”
1 month before their baby’s due date, 12 rhesus macaques were infected with a mild influenza A virus. For comparison, the study also included 7 pregnant monkeys who did not have the flu.
Behavioral developments of the babies were assessed when the babies were 1 year old and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were taken of their brains.
The babies born to flu-infected mothers showed no evidence of direct viral exposure. Their birth weight, gestation length and neuromotor, behavioral and endocrine responses were all normal.
But it was revealed by the MRI scans that there was a significant reduction in overall brain size in the flu-exposed babies.
——-Agencies