Mathura: A woman at Ral village in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura district on Wednesday delivered a baby girl with a rare genetic skin disorder and deformed face, eyes, and distorted skin.
The baby, born at Ral CHC, has a huge growth on her head and is covered in an undeveloped skin, contracting eyes and deformed oral cavity.
The girl’s birth shocked locals in the hospital as well as the people in Mathura district, with the curious public in large numbers visiting the home to have a glimpse of the baby.
According to sources, the mother of the baby was admitted to Ral CHC on Tuesday. Seeing the images of the baby, that made rounds on the social media, some were shocked, some were surprised, and many others were just disturbed. Locals said that the baby was a gift from the god.
Dr Kishore Mathur who performed the delivery said “The mother’s health condition is good, but the baby is not well. Infants with this condition have very hard, thick skin covering most of their bodies. This is broken into large, diamond-shaped plates separated by deep cracks (fissures).”
“The baby girl suffers from a rare genetic skin disorder called Harlequin Ichthyosis. It occurs due to malnutrition and causes thickening of the skin and deformities. This is only the third time in India that someone gave birth to such a baby” said Dr Mathur.
Notably, Harlequin Ichthyosis involves an 'ABCA 12' gene defect. Till date in India, only a few such cases have been reported and they all died soon after birth.
Harlequin Ichthyosis literally means one born with dry, scaly 'fish' like skin. It affects one in 300,000 births by inheriting a mutated gene from the parents.
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