Contracting the coronavirus in the very first days of his life, a Syrian baby has recovered from COVID-19 after treatment in İzmir, on the Aegean coast of Turkey.
The Syrian baby, named Aziz, was diagnosed with the disease just five days after opening his eyes to the world, and he was discharged from the hospital with a round of applause after fighting for nearly a month.
Mustafa al-Mahmoud and Siham al-Tamar, Aziz’s parents, married five years ago in the province of Aleppo in Syria. Fleeing the internal conflict in his country, Mahmoud came to İzmir four years ago and began making shoes to rebuild his life.
Mahmoud brought his wife to İzmir last year. After Tamar had a high fever about a month ago, Mahmoud took her to a hospital where she delivered a baby boy at 33 weeks.
Baby Aziz was taken to the intensive care unit for newborns after having trouble breathing. He tested positive for COVID-19.
A tube was inserted into his stomach for medical treatment. He responded to the treatment after a month and was given back to his family after testing negative for the disease.
Defne Engür, a newborn clinic administrator of the hospital, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that health workers in the intensive care unit fought hard to save baby Aziz.
Explaining that they monitored the baby in a negative pressure isolation room for a month, she said: “As it was a premature baby, he could breathe with a ventilator. After he tested positive for COVID-19, we started dual treatment.”
“We took him off the ventilator after he responded positively to the treatment.”
Engür said it was an emotional time for all the intensive care unit staff when the mother met her baby for the first time.
“Now, the baby can comfortably be breastfed,” she said, adding that, “There is a baby being discharged from hospital today, and there is a health army behind this success.”
“We are so happy and proud of the team,” Engür stated.
Mehmet Yekta Öncel, the clinic’s training supervisor, also said they are proud to have treated baby Aziz successfully even though there are not many scientific resources about how to treat the disease in premature babies.
The baby’s mother held her baby in her arms for the first time and said: “Aziz is my first child. I was so upset to learn that he caught COVID-19, but my baby recovered thanks to the treatment the health workers provided for him.”
She thanked all the health workers for their devoted work.
Mahmoud also said he owes so much to Turkey and added that his son’s life was saved by Turkish health workers.
“I thank the health workers so much. They never left us alone during this process,” he said, adding that he got so excited when he first held his child in his arms.
Most people who contract the virus and develop COVID-19 experience mild symptoms and fully recover within weeks. However, it is particularly deadly for those with pre-existing conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and asthma.
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