Unprecedented case of newborn triplets infected with COVID-19 registered in Mexico

Mexico’s novel coronavirus cases mounted and added their youngest infections Monday when triplets tested positive for the virus on the day they were born.

In a news conference held on June 22 , Miguel Ángel Lutzow Steiner , the head of San Luis Potosí’s Public Health , said: “This unprecedented situation, from the scientific perspective, in which we identified triplets born on June 17 and [the infections] were confirmed through PCR tests on Saturday.”

He added the babies were diagnosed after the testing protocol showed positive results for SARS-CoV-2 .

The officer asserted that two of the newborns, who were born prematurely , are in stable conditions and one of them has an early stage of respiratory disease so he is receiving the proper medical care.

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The also spokesman to the state’s Health Security Committee asserted that this is an unprecedented case in the world for, since the beginning of the pandemic, this is the first case of infection in multiple births , the reason why the event will be studied.

He said the babies will be kept in isolation and under strict monitoring and care as any other baby infected with COVID-19 and asserted the State Central Hospital, where they are, has wide experience in such sensitive cases.

It is not the first time newborns have tested positive for the virus, but it is rare .

Mónica Liliana Rangel Martínez

, the state’s Health Minister, added they will analyze how the triples got infected for it could have been through the placenta .

She said this is the second case of newborns testing positive for COVID-19 in San Luis Potosí, “and it would be impossible for them to get infected just after being born.”

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The other baby who tested positive “was two days old when the tests were performed,” she added.

On June 23 , San Luis Potosí authorities informed the parents of the triplets, who were also hospitalized at the Central Hospital, tested negative to COVID-19.

As of last Monday, San Luis Potosí had registered 11 cases of children less than 1-year-old who tested positive to the new coronavirus; most of them are less than six months old .

Nationwide, Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 196,847 , and the confirmed death toll rose to 24,324 as of June 24.

Both numbers are considered significant undercounts due to Mexico’s very low levels of testing . Officials said that levels of infections appear to have stabilized , and held out hopes, as they have many times before, that the numbers may start declining soon.

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