The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in April had said that vertical transmission of COVID-19 i.e, transmission from mother to baby antenatally (before birth) or intrapartum (during labour) was possible and that there was evidence. A few cases were are also reported worldwide.
Now, India has documented its first case of vertical transmission of the virus from mother to child. The case was reported in Pune's B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital in the month of May, reported Indian Express.
According to Dr Aarti Kinikar, professor and head of the Department of Paediatrics at B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital, said that a 22-year-old pregnant woman from Hadapsar had reported to Sassoon General Hospital in the last week of May. Before the delivery, she had fever. Her RT-PCR test showed negative, however, the antibody test showed evidence of COVID infection.
After the baby girl was born, she tested positive and developed symptoms within 24 to 48 hours. “We were able to detect the infection in the umbilical cord and placenta. The mother had the infection earlier but was asymptomatic,” said Dr Kinikar. "It was extremely challenging as the baby had developed a severe form of the disease and it had taken a lot of efforts to treat her successfully," the doctor added. The baby girl was discharged in June after recovering completely.
Dr Kinikar added that a US-based international journal has accepted the paper of the researchers at BJMC.
Meanwhile, Pune district on Monday reported 3,044 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking its count to 72,782.
The death toll rose to 1,737 with 38 more patients succumbing to the infection in the western Maharashtra district. Also, 896 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours.
Of the 3,044 cases, 1,820 were reported from Pune Municipal Corporation limits (the city), which now has 46,786 cases. With 981 cases, the tally in Pimpri-Chinchwad rose to 17,641.
The number of positive cases in rural and Pune Cantonment Board areas increased to 8,355.
