Heartbreaking photos show the premature baby whose mum refuses to hold or feed her
The baby has a disease called harlequin ichthyosis, which causes widespread and persistent thick, dry, “fish-scale” skin
A BABY girl has been born prematurely with an extremely rare, incurable condition that causes her skin to grow seven times faster than usual.
A 28-year-old woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, gave birth to the youngster at a government-run hospital in Patna district of Bihar, in eastern India over the weekend.
The baby has a disease called harlequin ichthyosis, which causes widespread and persistent thick, dry, “fish-scale” skin.
The parents, who are said to have been traumatised by the birth, reportedly called the child “a curse” and refused to accept her.
They took the child home, but the mother reportedly doesn’t want to hold or feed her.
“I have no idea how this happened. Me and family are completely devastated,” she said.
"There was no problem during the delivery of the baby. The baby, who weighed around 2.50kg, even cried after her birth,” Dr Chaudhary, who was involved with the labour, said.
“We sent a child specialist to her home on Sunday and he reported that she was drinking milk. However, we have referred her to Patna Medical College and Hospital.”
Doctors believe the girl won’t survive for long as none of her organs have developed properly.
The probability of survival of such cases is only one in ten million.
The rare genetic condition called harlequin ichthyosis causes thickening of the skin and facial deformities.
A doctor said this is probably just the second reported case of harlequin ichthyosis in India.
The first case in the country was reported in June last year when a woman gave birth to a child with harlequin ichthyosis at Lata Mangeshkar College and Hospital in Nagpur.
The baby survived for just 48 hours.
"Such infants are prone to various infections because skin is not there to protect them," said Dr A A Hai of Patna, adding that survival has also been reported in certain cases.