A newborn baby, aged only 30 hours, has tested positive for the coronavirus, making it the youngest recorded case of the flu-like virus that has claimed the lives of over 565 individuals.
The medical test confirming the baby’s infection raised speculation about the potential transmission of the illness from mother to fetus, as the baby’s mother had also tested positive for the virus before giving birth.
Weighing 3.25kg at birth (7lbs 2oz), the baby is currently in stable condition and under observation.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who also developed a vaccine for the Sars coronavirus in 2003, emphasized the need for further understanding of the virus.
He stated, “We’re still in the deep learning curve about this virus. There’s more we don’t know than we do know about the new coronavirus. We know it happens for instance in HIV-Aids, but even there in the pre-retroviral drug era when I was taking care of infants with Aids, even in untreated mothers it was still only about 25% [of cases].”
Chief physician of Wuhan Children Hospital’s neonatal medicine department, Zeng Lingkong, highlighted the possible route of coronavirus transmission from mother to child, saying “This reminds us to pay attention to mother-to-child being a possible route of coronavirus transmission.”