Fact Check: Video of newborn suffering from a genetic disease in MP goes viral with a fake claim

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A video of a child is going viral on social media, in which a child suffering from a genetic disease can be seen. Sharing the video, it is being claimed that this child was born in Shamli and it did not die even after ’50 injections of poison, and finally, it’s throat was slit and it was buried.’

Vishvas News in its investigation found that the claim made with the viral post is false. The baby was born in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh in June 2022 and died in a hospital due to a genetic disease. The claim being made with the post is false.

What’s in the viral post?

Sharing the viral post, a Facebook user wrote, ‘A strange child born in the house of a Muslim today in village KD near Shamli! Did not die even after 50 injections of poison, then was buried after slitting his throat.

View the archived version of the post here.

Investigation

To start our investigation, first, we did a news search and started searching this news with different relevant keywords. We found this news on 4th June 2022 on the website of Naidunia. According to the information given in the news, ‘A woman gave birth to a deformed baby on Friday at Ratlam District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh. In addition to having many deformities in the infant, the skin on the body is also not fully formed. The veins are also visible outside. Other organs including fingers and eyes were also not fully developed. Despite all this, the child is crying and the heartbeat is also going on. The chances of survival of the baby in such cases are very less. MCH in charge Dr. Naved Qureshi told that the child has many congenital malformations simultaneously. This happens because of genetic mutation.”

On doing a news search on this basis, we found a news related to the same case dated June 4, 2022, on the website of Aaj Tak. The picture of this child can be seen in the news. According to the information given, ‘Dr. Naved Qureshi, in-charge of ICU of Ratlam District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh told that a woman, a resident of Baravada, has given birth to this child. In medical language, such babies are called collodion babies. This is a genetic problem. In this disease, the skin of the child does not develop during the pregnancy and due to the lack of skin on the body of the child, its organs swell. The veins are visible outside. Such a child is at higher risk of infection. The baby’s fingers and genitals are also not fully developed. In case, since the genitals are not developed properly, at present it is doubtful whether this child is male or female.”

According to the information related to collodion baby on the website of NCBI –””Collodion baby is a rare congenital disorder characterized by parchment-like taut membrane covering the whole body, often resulting in ectropion and eversion of the lips.”

For confirmation, we contacted Dr. Naved Qureshi, in-charge of ICU, Ratlam District Hospital and he told us that “the condition of the child was very critical. He died a few days after he was born. The child was still under the care of the hospital when it passed away. The claim being made with the viral post is absolutely false.”

In social scanning of the Facebook user who shared the fake post, we found that the user Abhay Thakur is a resident of Uttar Pradesh and has more than 1000 Facebook friends.