Why mother of Covid-19 positive baby tested negative

Results for a mother of an eight-month-old baby who tested positive for Covid-19 last month, have returned negative.
Health ministry officials were confused on how to protect the mother from contracting the deadly disease from her breastfeeding baby.

Concern
The concern arises from widespread information from experts about the contagious nature of the disease.
Among the most alarming is Centers for Disease Control of United States last week, which stated: “Coronavirus can spread between people interacting in close proximity such as speaking, coughing or sneezing.”

Dr Julius Lutwama, a virologist and deputy director at Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), however, says it is not just a matter of getting close to someone who is infected.
He says it is about the disease getting into one’s respiratory system through dirty hands or when a patient sneezes against their face.
“There could have been chance that the mother had been observing all hygienic practices,” he said.

“If you touch the soft tissue on your body such as the eyes and nose with your dirty hand, and you get the disease,” he said.
Dr Lutwama, who is also the deputy director of UVRI, asserts that there was chance that the child didn’t sneeze close against mother’s face.
Sneezing releases droplets, another a way through which the deadly virus is transmitted.

Dr Ekwaro Obuku, the former president of Uganda Medical Association, classifying Covid-19 among respiratory diseases, says children are not known to transmit respiratory diseases.
“There is no evidence that babies can transmit respiratory diseases, including the commonly known tuberculosis (TB),” he says.
He also reasoned that the baby most likely contracted the deadly disease from an adult.

Dr Obuku says the baby could have also contracted the infection from the hospital.
Dr Obuku says as cases start being reported from people with no travel history, government will need to step up its response.
“Is it true that the father had travelled to Kisumu? When we begin to see new patients of Covid-19 without a clear history of travel or contact with a patient of Covid-19, then this suggest there are many more patients in the community than we estimate and need to implement community wide strategies of prevention,” Dr Obuku added.

Scientists still studying Covid-19
Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, the World Health Organisation country representative, said scientists are still learning more about the disease.
“Every day, you will be getting something new as scientists continue studying the dynamics of the disease. But it is important to get information from authentic sources for the disease,” Dr Waldermaram said.

Background
On March 25, Ministry of Health declared that five other people, including an eight-month-old baby from Iganga District, had tested positive for novel Covid-19. The baby’s mother was tested and her result turned negative.

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