Kolkata: Newborn gets dengue from mom in rarest of rare vertical transmission

Sep 20,2023

Though a full term and weighed around 2.7 kg, the baby had to resuscitate and put on IV therapy for the initial few days. She also developed skin rashes. But the newborn had an uneventful recovery.

Kolkata: In a rare case of vertical transmission, a newborn was detected NS 1 positive right after birth to a dengue positive mother.

The newborn and the mother have been discharged from hospital on Sunday. Doctors said that both the mother and daughter were doing well.

Infectious diseases specialists said vertical transmission is common in mosquitoes, but very rare in humans.

The 29-year-old woman from Lake Town was admitted to Charnock Hospital on September 9 with dengue fever. Into full term pregnancy, her platelet count had dipped to 40,000. On the fourth day of admission, she sustained membrane rupture, prompting doctors to conduct an emergency C-section.

Since she belongs to RH-negative blood group, the cord blood was subjected to few tests as a protocol and doctors also tested it for dengue, which came out positive.

"We immediately took the baby to the NICU for intense monitoring. Another sample from the newborn's peripheral blood also tested positive to NS1," said paediatrician Sovana Haque