Triplets born with COVID-19 — but their parents test negative, Mexico officials say
Triplets born prematurely last week in Mexico have all tested positive for the novel coronavirus, despite neither parents being infected, media outlets report.
Local authorities are calling the case “unheard of” and “a very relevant scientific feat,” according to CNN.
The babies are in stable condition, but one is receiving an antibiotic for a “respiratory condition,” BBC News reported.
The triplets were born in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, according to local authorities, and their parents have been using video calls to see their babies in the hospital, the state’s Health Secretary Monica Rangel said during a Wednesday news conference, CNN reported.
“The triplets we are monitoring are stable. They are evolving favorably. One of them continues using an antibiotic, but they are doing well,” Rangel said, according to CNN. “We hope this continues so they can be reunited with their parents soon.”
Now, health officials in Mexico are trying to discover how the babies tested positive even though their parents tested negative.
Rangel told BBC News “it would be impossible for them to have been infected at the moment of birth.”
“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,” Rangel said in the news conference, CNN reported. “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.”
What do we know about how COVID-19 affects mothers, babies?
Until recently, there was no data that showed COVID-19 affects pregnant women differently, so experts looked to similar viruses that have posed high risks of severe illness for pregnant women to understand how SARS-CoV-2 might behave, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Now, a new government analysis published Thursday by the CDC says pregnant women with COVID-19 are more likely to be hospitalized, admitted to an intensive care unit and put on a ventilator than infected women who are not pregnant.
And in line with existing trends on minorities and the coronavirus, Hispanic and Black pregnant women appear to be the most affected, the researchers say.
The study includes data from 8,207 infected pregnant women between ages 15 and 44 from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to the Times.
Changes that occur in a pregnant woman’s body may make them more vulnerable to infections, and sometimes cause adverse health outcomes for the mother and baby, the agency says.
But the route of COVID-19 transmission to babies remains unclear, the CDC says.
“Limited reports have raised concern of possible intrapartum or peripartum transmission, but the extent and clinical significance of vertical transmission by these routes is unclear,” the agency says.
There have been several case studies of babies being born from mothers with COVID-19; most weren’t infected, some developed antibodies but did not show signs of the disease, while others showed symptoms.
“Most newborns who have tested positive for COVID-19 had mild or no symptoms and have recovered fully. However, there are a few reports of newborns with severe illness,” the CDC said.
There have been several reports of infants dying from the disease.
Those deaths include a 2-day-old infant in South Africa, a 13-day-old baby in England and a 7-week-old in Hartford, Connecticut.
Newborns can be infected when coming into close contact with a sick person, thus testing positive shortly after birth — or in this case the same day they’re born — but scientists don’t yet know if transmission occurs before, during or after birth for infants who test positive.
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Triplets born with COVID-19 — but their parents test negative, Mexico officials say."
