T&T: Baby with microcephaly due for tests

By CAROL MATROO
The baby born earlier this week with microcephaly will have tests done by the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) to find out the cause.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh yesterday said he had made arrangements with PAHO/WHO since the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) did not have the capability to do that confirmatory test. The tests would be conducted in Washington DC.

Deyalsingh said he could not comment on the condition of the mother, as she had private prenatal care, but said the baby was now being looked after at the San Fernando General Hospital. One source said the child was in the intensive care unit. (ICU). “I can’t comment on whether her doctor had her tested for Zika. I just spoke to Dr Bernadette Theodore-Gandi (PAHO/ WHO country representative) and they are sending me protocol for blood collection from the baby, and how the blood is to be stored and transported to Washington.

“I have no information on how the mother is doing. My concern and that of the ministry, now that the baby is in the public sector, we are seeing about the baby. The mother was never in the public sector, so I can’t comment on her condition because I simply don’t know.

We have about 12 micropcephaly babies born per year so until we know definitely via the test that would be done, we cannot assume any cause at this point in time,” the minister said.

Babies recently born with microcephaly have been tested to determine whether it was caused by the Aedes Egypti mosquito-borne virus, Zika. Microcephaly has been associated with the Zika virus in Brazil. Microcephaly is a rare neurological condition. When comparing an infant with microcephaly to a normal infant of the same age and gender, the circumference of the head is significantly below average.

This condition could be present at birth, when the brain did not develop properly in the womb, or appeared when the child was a few years old. In the latter instance, the brain stops growing normally.

In general, children with microcephaly have reduced life expectancies and poor brain function, though in 15 percent of cases children grow normally with normal intelligence.

Most often, this condition was caused by genetic abnormalities that interfered with the growth of the cerebral cortex during the first few months of pregnancy.

However, babies may also be born with microcephaly if their mother abused drugs or alcohol or became infected with a cytomegalovirus, rubella (German measles), varicella (chicken pox) virus, or Zika virus during pregnancy. It was also possible for the condition to occur if the mother was exposed to certain toxic chemicals or had untreated phenylketonuria (a harmful buildup of the amino acid phenylalanine in the blood) during pregnancy.

When contracted through a virus, such as the Zika virus, there was often widespread tissue and cell death that leads the brain to shrink further beyond the size of an impaired, microcephalic brain.

In a brief telephone interview yesterday, hospital officials declined comment on the baby’s health except to confirm that the baby had been warded at the hospital.(Newsday)

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