Mexican health officials are investigating after triplets tested positive for the coronavirus on the day they were born but whose parents tested negative.
The triplets were born on June 17 in San Luis Potosi state and tested positive for the illness just four hours after their birth. Officials were initially investigating whether the newborns contracted the virus from the mother’s placenta while in the womb, thinking that the mother might have been an asymptomatic carrier of the virus. But when the mother was tested, the result came back negative, according to Reuters.
“The parents’ results are negative, which catches our attention,” said Monica Rangel, secretary of health for San Luis Potosi state, on Tuesday. “We specifically requested since yesterday … that a group of experts investigates the case.”
Two of the triplets, a boy and a girl, are in stable condition, while a second boy has been receiving treatment at a hospital because of a respiratory issue.
Mexico has continued to see a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. As of Wednesday, the country has had more than 191,000 confirmed infections and at least 23,377 deaths, according to the latest tally by Johns Hopkins University.
