A newborn baby boy has tested positive for dengue shortly after his mother lost her life following an emergency C-section. The mother, Lanita Jacobs, 19, from Hampton Court, Region Two (Pomeroon Supenaam, succumbed to the disease on Saturday, just a week after contracting it.
According to the teen’s mother, Vonitta Daniels, the baby was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Suddie Public Hospital and has been recovering.
This publication was informed that the baby’s platelet count was low, and he was bleeding.
However, Daniels said the doctors are treating him, and now they’ve confirmed he has dengue.
“All the time they were saying that he doesn’t have it, but today [Wednesday] they confirmed that he has dengue… he is doing better now”, the woman said.
Dengue, a viral infection spread by mosquitoes, can be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy, although such cases are rare. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that this vertical transmission poses risks such as pre-term birth, low birth weight, and fetal distress, depending on when the mother is infected during pregnancy.
Daniels recounted that her daughter started feeling unwell on June 21. While Daniels herself had contracted dengue the previous week and recovered, her daughter’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
On June 22, after visiting a pharmacy for medication to treat pain and fever, Jacobs, who was eight months pregnant and due to give birth on July 17, continued to suffer severe symptoms.
“She was bleeding and she complained of very bad belly pain… she wasn’t eating, only drinking tea,” Daniels said.
Jacobs was eventually taken to Suddie Public Hospital on June 26 with a fever, neck pain, stomachache, and headache. After giving birth, her condition worsened, necessitating a transfer to Georgetown Public Hospital. Tragically, she passed away on Saturday, without seeing her newborn.
“While going to the hospital the last thing she kept saying to me was ‘Mommy I can’t take it anymore. My belly hurting me badly. They rushed her in to do a C-section and I didn’t even get to see her before. She didn’t even get to see her baby, she really wanted to see her baby because it was her first child,” Daniels said.
Family members reported that Jacobs experienced severe bleeding post-C-section. She was the eldest of eight siblings, and her mother said her death has left a profound void in their family.
“I don’t feel good because my daughter is dead. She was only 19…”, the tearful woman said.
