Twenty-one days old Zohra Fathima is possibly the first baby in India born to a H1N1 infected mother without contracting the flu. Zohra’s mother, Shabana Khanam tested positive for H1N1.
Twenty-one days old Zohra Fathima is possibly the first baby in India born to a H1N1 infected mother without contracting the flu. Zohra’s mother, Shabana Khanam tested positive for H1N1 and was being treated at the Al Shiffa Hospital. She went into labour and delivered a healthy Zohra on August 28, much to the surprise of the medical community.
An elated Shabana has a message to all, “There’s no need to be worried about the disease. The more you think about it, the infection will only aggravate. Though I contracted the H1N1 flu, my child and all my family members are safe.”
Speaking to DNA, Dr Zameer Ahmed, superintendent of the H1N1 ward of Shiffa hospital, said that Shabana was administered Tamiflu from the day she tested positive and was kept under close observation. “Shabana came to the hospital for a regular check-up during her pregnancy on August 25, and the doctors found her showing symptoms of the flu. Once she tested positive, we decided upon a Caesarean delivery for her, but the baby was born through a normal delivery, weighing 2.5 kg, without any complications,” Dr Ahmed said.
However, the infant was kept away from the mother for 24 hours and Shabana was not permitted to breast-feed until the infection reduced, Dr Ahmed added, crediting the gynaecologist Dr Parveen Yousuf and paediatricians Dr Owais and Dr Rizwan for handling the case efficiently. “During the third trimester, a pregnant woman will have respiratory distress, making her more vulnerable to the influenza virus,” said Dr Ahmed.
“The baby is not administered Tamiflu. But we have an oral powder which can be mixed with water and administered for newborns if required,” he said.
When DNA asked Shabana about the possible source of infection, she said, “I used to run a play school in BTM layout. Some kids had flu-like symptoms and I sent them back home whenever the symptoms were noticed. I might have contracted the infection from those kids, but I do not know if they were actually infected by H1N1.” Shabana is fully recovered now and is back home with her bundle of joy.
On September 15, a similar incident happened in Pune, where a 19-year-old woman gave birth to a healthy boy who is not infected by the virus.
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