Hyderabad's youngest COVID survivor defeats coronavirus, gets discharge from hospital

Hyderabad: In a heartwarming story, a month-old baby girl, who was born to a severe Covid19 positive mother, and who also turned Covid19 positive a week after birth, became a Covid19 warrior is discharged hale and hearty from city private hospital- KIMS Cuddles. This is believed to be the first such case in the city wherein a baby became the youngest survivor.

On April 17, this baby girl was born preterm at 28 weeks of pregnancy due to severe Covid19 infection in the mother Bala Mounika who needed mechanical ventilatory support. Born with a birth weight of just 1000 grams and treated initially for prematurity related respiratory distress, the baby’s first COVID screening swab came out negative. 

However, on day eighth of birth, the baby’s oxygen levels were falling, and the baby was facing increasing breathing difficulty that required ventilation. A repeat PCR test culminated that the neonate was SARS-COV2 positive. The baby, who then weighed only 920 grams, was then put on the ventilator and shifted to COVID isolation ICU by the team of doctors for further management.

Dr C Aparna, Clinical Director - Neonatology and Senior Consultant Neonatology and Pediatrics, KIMS Cuddles, said, “the newborn was nursed by our team of doctors and nurses in personal protective equipment in a specialized isolation neonatal ICU and provided ventilatory support, intravenous antibiotics, and nutrition. The neonate was monitored with multipara monitors showing a real-time display of its vitals such as blood pressure, oxygen saturations etc. The ventilator support was weaned to nasal ventilation and later to CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). The newborn was managed with a combination of supportive care and steroids.”

During this phase, the family including the baby's father Rahul, a medical coder by profession and mother Bala Mounika, residents of Kukatpally in city, were not by their baby's side due to Covid19 protocols and were constantly updated about the newborn’s clinical condition using video calls.

Efforts were undertaken to motivate the mother to send expressed breast milk due to the numerous advantages of the same. After clinical recovery and another PCR test, the neonate was shifted out of isolation after recovering from COVID.  

The baby was nursed in a radiant warm room and given appropriate developmentally supportive care with mother’s milk, kangaroo care, micronutrient supplementation and thermal support. The baby had a consistent weight gain of nearly 15-20 grams/day and was transitioned from tube feeds to oral feeding. After nearly 30 days of meticulous medical attention in the hospital, the baby was discharged in good health on breastfeeding with a weight of 1500 grams on May 17.

“Our team at KIMS Cuddles has been working tirelessly for high-risk mothers and high-risk preterm newborns including those affected with COVID to provide world-class services with compassion and human touch,” concludes Dr C Aparna. Dr Ritika Khare, Associate Consultant Pediatrician and Neonatologist and Dr Jonathan, Pediatrician have supported the baby’s treatment.

“We are overwhelmed to bring our baby back home. We had been really worried when we came to know that our baby was COVID positive. Dr Aparna promised us that she would give our baby safely. We were constantly updated about the newborn’s clinical condition through video calls KIMS Cuddles team made our dreams come true by sending our baby back home safely after a month of baby’s birth. We are happy to learn that our baby is one of the youngest COVID survivors in Hyderabad,” says the baby's father Rahul.

KIMS Cuddles has delivered 35 mothers with COVID of which only 2 newborns tested positive - both tested positive in the second week suggestive of postnatal transmission. All babies survived with nearly 20% requiring NICU admission.