Newborn Mexican Triplets Test Positive To Corona Virus In Unprecedented Case, Parents Test Negative

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Newborn Mexican Triplets Test Positive To Corona Virus In Unprecedented Case, Parents Test Negative
Medical experts are perplexed and investigating a set of premature newborn triplets born in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, who tested positive for coronavirus on June 20th.

The tests were carried out on the day they were born to comply with the state’s health protocols on premature births, according to the state’s Health Secretary Monica Rangel. The test results conducted on June 17th came back positive three days later.

Health officials say two of the triplets a boy and one girl, are in a stable condition in a hospital in San Luis Potosí state. One of the babies, a boy, however developed a respiratory infection but was “responding well to antibiotics,” officials said.

“The triplets we are monitoring are stable. They are evolving favorably. One of them continues using an antibiotic, but they are doing well. We hope this continues so they can be reunited with their parents soon,” Rangel said Wednesday during a news conference.

A very small number of newborn babies have been known to pick up the virus after birth, but health officials say they do not believe this is what happened in this case. In fact, State Health Secretary Mónica Liliana Rangel Martínez said:

“It would be impossible for them to have been infected at the moment of birth.”

What makes the case even more baffling and peculiar to medical experts is the fact that the parents of the triplets have since  tested negative for coronavirus. Rangel said they have only been able to see their newborn babies through video calls.

“What we need to look at is a situation where perhaps [the virus] is being transmitted through the placenta. That’s not something that we can be sure of. Those are theories that we have to look at. It’s a new virus. There still is not literature available internationally on this issue, but it will be worth reviewing,” Rangel said.

Mexico has recorded close to 200,000 coronavirus cases since the country’s first case on 28 February.

On Tuesday, the country recorded another daily record of confirmed cases with the health ministry reporting 6,288 new cases. This brought the country’s total to 191,410. The number of deaths recorded so far from the virus is 23,377.

Health authorities described the case as “unprecedented”, and “a very relevant scientific feat.”
They said they were investigating several potential sources of contagion such as the mother’s breast milk.

“Now that we have the negative result of the PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests done on both parents, the case is even more relevant, not only for the investigation our doctors in the state are doing but for the worldwide research on the behavior of the virus itself,” said Rangel.

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