A 23-year-old pregnant woman in Chennai, who got HIV because of a blood transfusion at a Hospital in Tamil Nadu last year, gave birth to a girl on 6:45 pm Thursday.

The baby is currently underweight, but doctors at the Rajaji Hospital which is a Government run Hospital have said she is doing fine.

Dr. Shanmugasundaram of the Rajaji Hospital said: “The baby cried immediately and is fine except that the weight of the baby is 1.75kg. Normally, the weight of a baby is between 2.5 kg and 3.5 kg. Because of the low birth weight, she has been admitted in the newborn intensive care unit. The baby has been given Nevirapine syrup to prevent HIV transmission.”

A Nevirapine syrup is used to prevent transmission of HIV from the mother to her child. Dr. Shanmugasundaram said that the medicine will be used for at least 6-12 weeks.

In addition to that, he said: “The baby is also being given Hepatitis B vaccine hemoglobin to prevent Hepatitis B virus transmission,”

The newborn baby will undergo an HIV screening test on her 45th day, this will be done so doctors can see if she is HIV positive.

The mother was infected with HIC after a hospital used an HIV positive blood for her blood transfusion, the donor did not know he was positive with HIV, by the time he went to alert the hospital, the blood was already given to the 23-year-old woman.

After tests were conducted, it showed confirmation that she was HIV positive. Three officers were suspended right away. The State Health Department has promised the best treatment for the 23-year-old woman, she is the wife of a daily wage earner in the city.