A Literature Review on the Vaccination of COVID-19 in Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women: Effectiveness and Safety

Background: Pregnant women and breastfeeding women who are infected with the COVID-19 virus have a high risk, but pregnant women and women who breastfeed are not included in the initial vaccine trial for coronavirus 19 (COVID-19). There are currently no clinical data on the use of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in pregnant and lactating women. Aim: This study aims to get a picture about nurse’s knowledge, attitude and supervision, and its relationship to the implementation of pain reassessment. Methods: The method used in this paper is the Literature Review study. The data based used in the source search were Google Scholar, PubMed, JAMA, and AJOG which aimed to collect themes regarding the discussion of COVID-19 Vaccination in Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women. The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine creates immunity in pregnant and lactating women. Results: IgG immunoglobulin after vaccination in pregnant, lactating and non-pregnant women increased significantly and was stronger than pregnant women who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 Conclusion: Pregnant and lactating women have a stronger immune response after being vaccinated than pregnant women who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2. Immune transfer to neonates occurs through placenta and breast milk, antibodies are formed after vaccination in the third trimester of pregnancy. Immunogenicity and reactogenicity reactions after the vaccine are the same as for nonpregnant women. Therefore, education is needed by health workers to patients about the risks and benefits of vaccines for pregnant and lactating women.

Topic: Hyper immune Bovine Colostrum as a Low-Cost, Large-Scale Source of Antibodies against COVID-19

Many different strategies have been used to fight against COVID-19 pandemic as a therapeutics or prophylaxis approaches. However, none of them so far have used, passive immune transfer using products from immunized farm animals. Hyper immune bovine colostrums (HBC) have been used against many different respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts infections during past decades.

Postulated Adjuvant Therapeutic Strategies for COVID-19

The number of COVID-19 patients is still growing exponentially worldwide due to the high transmissibility of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Therapeutic agents currently under investigation are antiviral drugs, vaccines, and other adjuvants that could relieve symptoms or improve the healing process. In this review, twelve therapeutic agents that could play a role in prophylaxis or improvement of the COVID-19-associated symptoms (as add-on substances) are discussed. Agents were identified based on their known pharmacologic mechanism of action in viral and/or nonviral fields and are postulated to interact with one or more of the seven known mechanisms associated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus: (i) regulation of the immune system; (ii) virus entrance in the cell; (iii) virus replication; (iv) hyperinflammation; (v) oxidative stress; (vi) thrombosis; and (vii) endotheliitis. Selected agents were immune transfer factor (oligo- and polypeptides from porcine spleen, ultrafiltered at <10 kDa; Imuno TF®), anti-inflammatory natural blend (Uncaria tomentosa, Endopleura uchi and Haematoccocus pluvialis; Miodesin®), zinc, selenium, ascorbic acid, cholecalciferol, ferulic acid, spirulina, N-acetylcysteine, glucosamine sulfate potassium hydrochloride, trans-resveratrol, and maltodextrin-stabilized orthosilicic acid (SiliciuMax®). This review gives the scientific background on the hypothesis that these therapeutic agents can act in synergy in the prevention and improvement of COVID-19-associated symptoms.

The occurrence of diseases and their relationship with passive immune transfer in Holstein dairy calves submitted to individual management in southern Brazil

ABSTRACT Calves are extremely dependent on colostrum intake for the acquisition of passive immunity. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of diarrhea and respiratory diseases and the impact of Failure of Passive Immune Transfer (FPIT) on the health and zootechnical performance of Holstein dairy calves in individual management. This study has been carried out in five commercial farms in Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, from March 2017 to January 2018. In this study, 131 calves were followed from birth to 60 days of age. Total Plasmatic Protein (TPP) has been performed to determine passive immune transfer quality in 53 calves (53/131). A daily clinical follow-up has been accomplished aiming at diagnosing diseases and their incidences, and zootechnical measures such as withers height, width of the croup and weight have been evaluated. FPIT rate was 32.07%, diarrhea occurrence and respiratory diseases were 77.9% and 49.6%, respectively. FPIT increased the chances of calves presenting diarrhea and developing respiratory diseases, but no differences on zootechnical performance were found. The frequency of FPIT is still high and is a factor that corroborated the increased risk for diarrhea and respiratory disease but did not influence the performance of calves in the preweaning phase.

Delay in Progesterone Decline Before Parturition is Connected with Failure of Passive Immune Transfer in Tropical Composite Beef Calves

A shortage of nutrients during the final period of gestation can decrease secretion of colostrum, which is critical to newborn calf survival. The physiological mechanism modulating the nutritional control of colostrum secretion is poorly understood. Because the decline in progesterone before parturition is required for lactogenesis to occur, the objective was to evaluate the correlation between prepartum progesterone in cows and plasma immunoglobulin-G1 (IgG1) concentration in neonatal calves. From 135 pregnant cows, successful data on both prepartum progesterone and calf IgG1 was collected from 59 cow/calf pairs (animal ethics approval SA2018/05/638). The cow/calf pairs were classified into three categories according to the transfer of passive immunity: low (n = 19), medium (n = 18), or high (n = 22). Plasma IgG1 was 1025, 2395, and 3347 mg/dL for the low, medium, and high groups, respectively. Plasma progesterone 1 day prepartum was 18.3, 14.2, and 12.4 nmol/L for the low, medium and high groups, respectively. This indicates that calves with failure of passive transfer were born from cows with higher prepartum progesterone, compared to calves with high IgG1 (P = 0.05). Non-linear modelling of the progesterone data indicated the moment that progesterone started to decline (change-point). Change-point was 0.8, 2.5, and 2.4 days before parturition for the low, medium, and high groups, respectively. There was a delay in progesterone decline in the Low group compared with the High group (P < 0.05). These results corroborate the hypothesis that the delay in progesterone decline before parturition is responsible for the failure of IgG1 transfer from cows to calves.

Transgenerational Immune Priming in the Field: Maternal Environmental Experience Leads to Differential Immune Transfer to Oocytes in the Marine Annelid Hediste diversicolor

Transgenerational immune priming (TGIP) is an intriguing form of parental care which leads to the plastic adjustment of the progeny’s immunity according to parental immune experience. Such parental effect has been described in several vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. However, very few empirical studies have been conducted from the field, with natural host-parasite systems and real ecological settings, especially in invertebrates. We investigated TGIP in wild populations of the marine annelid Hediste diversicolor. Females laid eggs in a mud tube and thus shared the local microbial threats with the first developmental stages, thus meeting expectations for the evolution of TGIP. We evidenced that a maternal bacterial challenge led to the higher antibacterial defense of the produced oocytes, with higher efficiency in the case of Gram-positive bacterial challenge, pointing out a prevalent role of these bacteria in the evolutionary history of TGIP in this species. Underlying mechanisms might involve the antimicrobial peptide hedistin that was detected in the cytoplasm of oocytes and whose mRNAs were selectively stored in higher quantity in mature oocytes, after a maternal immune challenge. Finally, maternal immune transfer was significantly inhibited in females living in polluted areas, suggesting associated costs and the possible trade-off with female’s protection.

PSI-14 Relationships of neonatal beef calf vigor with metabolic status

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationships of neonatal beef calf behavior with calf serum metabolites. Angus, Hereford and crossbred beef females (n = 36; age = 4.0 ± 1.74; BCS = 6.5 ± 1.04; primiparous =5, multiparous = 31; calving date = April 4, 2018) and their calves were monitored continuously from 0 to 4 h post-parturition using a digital video recording system from March to May 2018. Jugular blood samples were obtained from calves at 24 (24.4 ± 1.73) and 48 to 72 (54.7 ± 9.08) h postnatal to determine serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), glucose, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), and total protein (TP). Video was analyzed for behavior latencies calculated from time of birth to time when calf shakes head, kneels, attempts to stand, stands, and suckles. Time to stand had a weak positive correlation (P = 0.03) with time to suckle. Time to shake head had a moderate positive correlation (P ≤ 0.04) with both time to attempt to stand and time to stand, but did not correlate (P = 0.99) with time to suckle. Dam parity (multiparous or primiparous) did not affect (P ≥ 0.20) calf vigor measures. Time to suckle had a moderate negative correlation (P ≤ 0.05) with both serum glucose and total protein at 24 and 72 h, however did not correlate (P ≥ 0.31) with BUN or NEFA serum concentrations. In conclusion, the initial calf vigor measures were poor predictors of time to suckle; however, time to stand may be a viable vigor measure used to predict calf suckling. Further analysis of immunoglobulin G concentrations in calf serum will be used to determine if these vigor measures have a relationship with passive immune transfer in beef calves.

Pre-conception maternal helminth infection transfers via nursing long-lasting cellular immunity against helminths to offspring

Maternal immune transfer is the most significant source of protection from early-life infection, but whether maternal transfer of immunity by nursing permanently alters offspring immunity is poorly understood. Here, we identify maternal immune imprinting of offspring nursed by mothers who had a pre-conception helminth infection. Nursing of pups by helminth-exposed mothers transferred protective cellular immunity to these offspring against helminth infection. Enhanced control of infection was not dependent on maternal antibody. Protection associated with systemic development of protective type 2 immunity in T helper 2 (TH2) impaired IL-4Rα−/− offspring. This maternally acquired immunity was maintained into maturity and required transfer (via nursing) to the offspring of maternally derived TH2-competent CD4 T cells. Our data therefore reveal that maternal exposure to a globally prevalent source of infection before pregnancy provides long-term nursing-acquired immune benefits to offspring mediated by maternally derived pathogen-experienced lymphocytes.