The Ministry of Health has taken charge of the baby who was recently diagnosed with microcephaly.
Confirmation came from Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh in a telephone interview yesterday.
Deyalsingh’s comments came hours after the ministry in a press release on Monday confirmed the birth of a baby born with microcephaly at a private hospital.
“We have taken over care of the child around last week Thursday or Friday. The baby is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (at Mt Hope). The paediatricians there are working with the baby. They are doing whatever needs to be done,” Deyalsingh said.
As for the mother, who was confirmed as being infected with the Zika virus, Deyalsingh said she was discharged from the private institution (Gulf View Medical Centre) last week.
“But I can’t say much about her condition because of patient confidentiality.”
Blood and tissue samples have since been taken from the baby, Deyalsingh said, which were sent to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) for testing.
“That is what PAHO is now working on. We did not have control of the birthing process. We only came in after the fact. That is why I need the specialist intervention of PAHO. I spoke to PAHO in Washington (DC) yesterday about this.”
Deyalsingh could not say when the test results would be available.
“PAHO will be getting back to me on that. PAHO can’t give me a time frame as yet. I only engaged them yesterday.”
He said the ministry was trying to avoid fear and panic among T&T women who were tested positive with Zika, stating that the country registers approximately 12 cases of microcephaly annually due to a variety of genetic factors.
Medical Chief of Staff of Mt Hope Women's Hospital Dr Karen Sohan also weighed in on the issue, stating it was too early to tell if the Zika virus was linked to the baby’s birth with microcephaly.
As of yesterday, Sohan stated T&T had recorded 308 Zika-positive pregnancies, compared to the 294 women as of September 22.
“We have not confirmed that it is Zika. We do have microcephalic babies being born due to genetic syndrome chromosomal torch infection. Because we are in the midst of a Zika epidemic the question will be asked.”
Sohan said as soon as “information about the first set of cases that have been screened antenatally, that is those pregnant women who are coming to Mt Hope for their screening, we would be able to provide our own data as to what is happening in our population.”
Before 18 weeks of pregnancy, Sohan said, women faced the highest risk.
Colombia which is going through an epidemic, Sohan said, has had 1,800 Zika-positive pregnant women who in their third trimester (28 weeks and over) of pregnancy delivered normal babies.