An 8-year-old girl with 25 weeks of gestation has become the first case detected in Panama of such an early pregnancy.
For about a week, it has housed the maternity hospital of the Santo Tomás Hospital (HST).
The national coordinator of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Program of the Ministry of Health (Minsa), Geneva González, said that this is the first time that such an early pregnancy is known.
The official commented to TVN News that “a developed 8-year-old girl means that she has precocious puberty. She had precocious puberty and perhaps that is why they did not even realize that she was pregnant.”
He explained that precocious puberty is the early development of the sexual system of girls and boys, which naturally causes a clash between hormonal development and the body itself because it is not consistent with the emotional or psychological growth of the person in question.
According to Minsa statistics, during the year 2020, 36,053 pregnancies were reported, of which 9,724 were girls and adolescents between 10 and 19 years old.
González, when referring to the girl of the Guna ethnic group, explained that it was discovered when a relative, whose closeness he did not define, observed changes in her anatomy and decided to take her to a health center, and at the time of receiving medical attention it became clear that It was a high-risk pregnancy.
Her case was immediately transferred to the Santo Tomás and Niño Hospitals, so that she could receive the attention of health professionals, including a child psychiatrist, and they maintain strict surveillance of her pregnancy.
He stressed that the pregnancy was detected late and this has psychosocial implications, so the hardest work will be after the birth of the child.
González revealed that she will probably have to perform a cesarean section because it is a girl whose pelvis is not developed.
