At least 10, and possibly more than 12, babies in the United States have been diagnosed with the disease, which doctors believe is a new syndrome related to exposure to fentanyl in the womb. The babies have obvious physical birth defects, such as cleft palates and unusually small heads. While experts could not reveal a common genetic cause, it was stated that all of them were born to mothers who said they used street drugs, especially fentanyl, while pregnant.
According to the news in NBC News; Speaking on the subject, March of Dimes President Dr. While Elizabeth Cherot said, “This is worrying,” she said, “As we see these common features identified, we may be uncovering a real syndrome.” He made a statement.
Six babies were identified at Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington, Delaware, two in California, and one each in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Erin Wadman, a genetic counselor at Nemours, and her colleagues also published their findings in Genetics in Medicine Open.
“THIS FACE SEES VERY FAMILIAR”
The connection between the situation in the babies happened in August 2022, when Wadman was called to provide counseling for a baby born with birth defects. Explaining what she thought when she saw the baby in question, Wadman said, “I was sitting there at the appointment and this face looked so familiar. This story seemed so familiar. And I was thinking about how this patient reminded me so much of a patient I saw earlier in the year. And then the other patients I saw…” said. “That’s when we thought we might have stumbled upon something really big here,” Wadman continued. he said.
In addition to cleft palates, 10 babies were noted to have unusually small bodies and heads. Babies who tend to have droopy eyelids have noses that tend to turn upwards and their lower jaws are often small. Its feet point downwards and inwards, and two of its middle toes are webbed. It has been reported that genital irregularities may occur in male babies. It was stated that some of them had feeding problems and their thumbs may not have been fully formed.
The physical similarities prompted Wadman and his colleague at Nemours, geneticist Dr. It reminded Karen Gripp of the syndrome called Smith-Lemli-Opitz. In such cases, genetic variants affect how fetuses process cholesterol, which is necessary for normal cell function and brain development.
DOUBTS CONCENTRATED THERE
However, none of the babies were found to have the Smith-Lemli-Opitz variant or any other variant that would put them at risk of such defects. Gripp and Wadman, who is also a pediatrician, suspect that fentanyl may cause similar disruptions in cholesterol metabolism during pregnancy.
“Although the effect of fentanyl on cholesterol metabolism has not been directly tested based on indirect evidence, it is biologically plausible that it affects cholesterol metabolism in the developing fetus,” the experts wrote in their report. he said.
The babies tested positive for fentanyl exposure at birth. But the Nemours team suspects they were exposed to significant amounts of the drug throughout their entire pregnancy.
Still, Wadman said much more study is needed to confirm the findings. “Even just to prove that it was actually fentanyl and there wasn’t anything added to it or another drug that was missing,” Wadman said.
POSSIBLE CAUSES ARE BEING EVALUATED
There is no evidence yet linking fentanyl to the cases, and in fact there are many possible causes. The defects may have been caused by other street drugs or contaminants in the fentanyl supply. Even mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika are known to cause microcephaly (unusually small heads) if babies are exposed in the womb, but there is also no evidence that Zika plays a role in the cases.
National Institute on Drug Abuse director Dr. Nora Volkow said the women in the study “were also taking a lot of drugs.” “It’s very difficult to determine whether this is just the effect of fentanyl or whether it’s really the effect of other drugs or other combinations,” Volkow said. he said.
