My recent post described a newly identified mechanism by which mom’s placenta protected the developing fetus from mom’s viral infections. Here you can read about how the unhindered interferon pathway leads to major damage during Zika virus infection. This virus creates life altering brain damage through excess interferon during pregnancy.
Szaba, Frank M et al. “Zika virus infection in immunocompetent pregnant mice causes fetal damage and placental pathology in the absence of fetal infection.” PLoS pathogens vol. 14,4 e1006994. 10 Apr. 2018, doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1006994
