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Comment
. 2021 Oct:111:10-11.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.08.020. Epub 2021 Aug 14.

Ultrastructural evidence for vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Affiliations
Comment

Ultrastructural evidence for vertical transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Monica Birkhead et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Oct.
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Placental tissue infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. The cytoplasm of the multi-nucleate placental syncytiotrophoblast was found to contain numerous vesicles filled with virions. These virions are typical of coronaviruses, clustered within membrane-bound vesicles derived from the endomembrane system, and in the electron-dense nucelocapsids appearing in section as dots within the virions (insets: circled enlargement of a virion with arrows pointing to nucleocapsid cross-sections). The virions are generally spherical, with a maximum measured diameter of 127 nm. The dotted line demarcates the trophoblast from the stroma. N, nucleus. Scale bars (insets) = 0.1 µm.

Comment on

  • Electron microscopy of SARS-CoV-2: a challenging task.
    Goldsmith CS, Miller SE, Martines RB, Bullock HA, Zaki SR. Goldsmith CS, et al. Lancet. 2020 May 30;395(10238):e99. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31188-0. Epub 2020 May 19. Lancet. 2020. PMID: 32442529 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

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    1. Bullock HA, Goldsmith CS, Zaki SR, Martines RB, Miller SE. Difficulties in differentiating coronaviruses from subcellular structures in human tissues by electron microscopy. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021;27:1023–1031. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Goldsmith CS, Miller SE, Martines RB, Bullock HA, Zaki SR. Electron microscopy of SARS-CoV-2: a challenging task. Lancet. 2020;395:E99. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schwartz DA, Morotti D. Placental pathology of COVID-19 with and without fetal and neonatal infection: trophoblast necrosis and chronic histiocytic intervillositis as risk factors for transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Viruses. 2020;12:1308. - PMC - PubMed

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