Mumbai: A two-month-old girl, diagnosed with rare diseases ‘bubble baby syndrome,' becomes the youngest to receive bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Parel.
Anisha was only 19-day-old when she was diagnosed with 'bubble baby syndrome,' a severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).
According to doctors, babies with SCID are born without an immune system, making them vulnerable to life-threatening infections. The genetic defect linked to SCID leads to a deficiency in T cells, which are a crucial component of our immune system.
“Without a bone marrow transplant, most children with SCID succumb to infections before reaching their first birthday. While primary immunodeficiencies are rare, affecting 1 in 100,000 people, life-threatening immunodeficiencies can be entirely cured with a bone marrow transplant,” said a doctor.
Geetika and Gitesh's adversities began soon after their first child was diagnosed with SCID. Despite trying their best, they lost the child to infections before her first birthday.
A day after Anisha was born on August 28 this year, doctors in Mangalore confirmed the diagnosis of SCID. With a diagnosis, a race also began against time to get her transplanted before she gets an infection.
Registries worked round the clock to confirm a donor
Anisha was referred to the bone marrow transplant unit at BJ Wadia Hospital for Children from Mangalore. She had multiple full matched donors in three Indian bone marrow registries. All the registries worked round the clock to confirm a donor for her transplant.
“Time is crucial in children with SCID as infections can be fatal. While we waited for a full match donor, Anisha was admitted in the bone marrow transplant unit on October 12 following which care was taken to avoid exposure to bugs”, said transplant physician from Wadia Hospital. She received the stem cells the day after they were collected from the donor.
"Transplant is working well"
According to the transplant physician at Wadia Hospital, “The transplant is working well, and the baby girl has been discharged. Early diagnosis and referral to the transplant center allowed for a timely transplant without serious complications.”
Another transplant physician added, “The availability of fully matched stem cell donors also reduces the transplant complications. We thank national and international donor registries for providing our patients with HLA-matched donors from time to time.”
Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospitals said, “This is one of the youngest transplant patients in the country to receive stem cells from a volunteer donor. It is satisfying to treat patients, including very young babies, at Wadia Hospital using complex therapies such as bone marrow transplantation.”
