20-year-old South African woman gives birth to baby with rare disease | Social

A 20-year-old South African woman has given birth to a baby with a rare disease called progeria, a progressive genetic condition that causes children to age quickly.

Progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is caused by a mutation (change) in the lamin gene (LMNA).

Libode’s wife in the Eastern Cape gave birth to the baby girl at home two months ago. Local midwives, including the baby’s grandmother, noticed that she had different signs than most babies. His hands are deformed and his skin is wrinkled. She is currently hospitalized with her mother.

“When she was in labor we called an ambulance but it took a long time to come. So she gave birth here at home. But the delivery got complicated and we hired a van to take her there. ‘hospital,’ explained the grandmother.

“We were told there that she was disabled. I noticed when she was born that there was something strange about her. She wasn’t crying and she was breathing through her ribs. I was shocked. because it was weird. Now I hear people call it it hurts a lot. If I could afford it, I would put them all in jail, “she added.

Photos of the baby are circulating on social networks. Some users have compared her to a monkey, causing outrage and anger from those who sympathize with her.

The director of the children’s rights organization, Khula Community Development Project, Petros Majola, believes that communities must be made aware of this condition.

“Communities need to know that the mother did not ask for her baby to be like this. In a woman’s womb there is no building or factory that makes babies. People have to kiss this child for who she is, ”says Majola.

Medical experts say the genetic disease occurs randomly and is not inherited. Dr. Martha Mayer, neonatologist at Nelson Mandela University Hospital, says the syndrome is very rare.

“Progeria is a genetic disease that makes the baby age faster. Another thing is that these children also develop heart disease and their lifespan is very short. We have never had a child with this disease in this. hospital It’s very rare, maybe it happens to one in four or eight million people.