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Notes -
It's wild that it works, right?
Not quite - the whole point of the placenta is to share oxygen and nutrients without directly sharing blood, and apparently the Hep B virus generally doesn't make it through an undamaged placenta, or through an undamaged amniotic sac (which makes amniocentesis a risk for infected mothers), whereas some Hep B antibodies do make it through the placenta, and some accumulate in the placenta and may form a bit of a "barrier" there.
I'm not an expert in any of that, though, and it looks like part of the answer is "luck". Some viruses slip through the placenta much more easily than others, despite the obvious natural selection issues to the contrary.
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