Lina Medina as a newborn at the age of 5 (left) and with her son when she was 11 years old. To the shock of the couple, the doctor said their daughter was 7 months pregnant. Soon after, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy via caesarean section. At the age of five, 7 months and 21 days, she became the youngest mother in the world. Rare disease Born on September 23, 1933, Lina Medina is one of nine children in the family. Her pregnancy at such a young age was a shock to her relatives, as well as to the public. But for pediatric endocrinologists, a 5-year-old pregnancy is entirely possible. They believe that Medina has a rare genetic condition, called precocious puberty, that causes a child’s body to transform into an adult body too soon (before age 8 for girls and before age 9 for girls). boy). Boys with this disorder will have a low voice, rapid genital growth, and girls will have periods and breasts develop early. It is estimated that 1 in 10,000 children has precocious puberty, and the incidence is 10 times higher in girls than in boys. Scientists don’t know the exact cause of the disorder, but recent studies have found that girls who are sexually abused may experience puberty earlier than their peers. Regarding the case of Lina Medina, Dr Edmundo Escomel, of the University of Ricardo Palma, Peru reported in a medical journal that she had her first period when she was only 8 months old. However, other documents indicate that she started menstruating at the age of 3. Either way, it’s an amazingly early start. Closer examination of Medina at the age of 5 showed that she had developed breasts, wider hips and bone growth (signs of post-puberty). Although, her body develops prematurely, she is still an innocent child. Who is the author of the fetus? Precocious puberty partly explains Lina Medina’s pregnancy. But it doesn’t clear things up. Of course, there must be someone responsible for the pregnancy but certainly not some boy with the same condition as her. Meanwhile, Medina has not told doctors or authorities about the father of the baby, or what circumstances led to her pregnancy. Tiburelo, Medina’s father, who worked as a local silversmith, was arrested on suspicion of raping his son. However, he was soon released due to the lack of evidence, or the lack of witnesses to convict him. Consistently, Tiburelo staunchly denies raping her daughter. According to some media outlets, Medina may have been abused during festivals that took place near her village. However, there is nothing to prove this conjecture. Mother and daughter are only 5 years apart. What happens to the young mother? When news of Lina Medina’s pregnancy spread, it attracted attention from all over the world. Newspapers in Peru offered to give Lina Medina’s family thousands of dollars for the right to interview and film her, but were unsuccessful. Many newspapers even offered to provide money for Melina’s family to settle in the United States. But Medina and her family declined all offers and did not answer any questions regarding the case. More than 80 years on, neither Medina nor her family have taken advantage of this strange phenomenon to their profit, while medical records from that time provide complete documentation of her condition during pregnancy. . In it, accompanied by the report of the doctors treating her, the abdominal X-ray pictures clearly showed the bones of a developing fetus inside her body. Other tests also confirmed she was pregnant. Medina’s baby at birth weighing about 2.5kg was named Gerardo, after the doctor who first examined her. Two years after the birth, an expert in child education at Columbia University named Paul Koask was allowed to visit the Medina family. He rated the world’s youngest mother as “above normal intelligence” and her baby “absolutely normal”. Medina saw the child as a younger brother and so did her siblings in the family. An obstetrician named Jose Sandoval, who has written a book about Medina’s case, said she prefers to play with dolls than with children. As for Gerardo, he grew up thinking Medina was his older sister and only learned the truth when he was 10 years old. Gerardo was healthy for most of his life, but sadly, he died quite young at the age of 40, in 1979. The cause of death was bone disease. Lina Medina, after the shock of pregnancy, continues to live a quiet life in Peru. In the early 1970s, she married a man named Rául Jurado and gave birth to her second son when she was almost 40 years old. They live in a poor neighborhood in Lima and still avoid prying eyes. Since 2002, no one knows how her life and her family are. If alive, Medina would be 88 years old now.

Pregnant at the age of 5 Lina Medina was born into a poor family in Ticrapo, Castrovirreyna province (Peru), to a silversmith father Tiburelo Medina and mother Victoria Losea. In the early spring of 1939, the family began to worry about their 5-year-old daughter, so they took her to see a doctor in Lima. Her belly has grown in recent months, so her family thinks she has a tumor in her body. All were very shocked and horrified when the doctor diagnosed little Lina Medina 7 months pregnant. Dr. Gerardo Lozada took her to Lima (the capital of Peru) before the operation, so that other experts could confirm that Lina was indeed pregnant. Six weeks later, on May 14, 1939, Medina gave birth to a healthy baby boy, weighing 2.7 kg. Because the pelvis is still small, doctors recommend a cesarean section. The surgery was performed by Dr. Lozada and Busalleu, while Dr. Colretta was anesthetist. Her case was recorded by Dr. Edmundo Escomel at La Presse Medicale hospital. Here, doctors discovered that despite being young, Medina had adult genitals and details that were very different from normal girls such as: her period had started at 8 months. age, and breasts develop by age 4. At the age of 5, her pelvis began to develop, and her height increased significantly. These are all common signs of puberty. In the end, the doctors concluded that the girl had precocious puberty syndrome. A young mother (right cover) gave birth to a baby when she was 5 years old. According to Telegraph India, Lina Medina became the youngest mother in the world at the age of 5 years, 7 months and 21 days. The baby boy was named Gerardo, after the doctor who delivered Lina. Precocious puberty affects about 1 in 10,000 children each year. However, the trend towards early puberty in children is increasing, and most of the time, the cause is unknown. Some factors increase the likelihood of early puberty in children including genetic factors, endocrine, living environment, diet, living conditions in the family, other diseases of the body. Medina herself never told anyone about the child’s father, although Medina’s father Tiburelo was arrested soon after on charges of child rape. In the end, Tiburelo was released and the charges against him were insufficient. He did not accept responsibility for having sex with his daughter, nor did authorities have evidence or Medina’s testimony to arrest Tiburelo. However, an article on the case published in October 1955 by author Luis Leon said that many remote Indian villages in Peru regularly held religious festivals. Up to that point, they still maintained the customs of group sex and sometimes rape. There is no shortage of stories like the Medina mentioned above. In this case, the authorities were unable to obtain any reasonable testimony from Medina about the incident. If Medina is willing to tell the story, this will be solid evidence to find the biological father of the fetus. Baby Lina Medina and her son. Still living a secret life When there is no explanation for this case, the media weaves many stories around the girl as well as the child’s father. Newspapers in Peru offered to pay thousands of dollars to interview and film Lina and her family. Newspapers in the US also want to do a program about this special case. Many organizations even want Lina to appear in a reality show about weird people. Many American newspapers at that time were disappointing when they published similar articles and only intended to stimulate the curiosity of readers. Once again, the whole Medina family received many invitations to the US to attend interviews with the press. The stories woven from the press also turn their lives upside down. This family chose to remain silent and refused all offers. Therefore, documents about her are very few, only a few photos taken when Lina was pregnant with low resolution. Lina regularly refuses interviews from international newspapers, local newspapers and television programs. This story still attracts the attention of the public to this day. For example, the Wikipedia article on Lina Medina still has controversy about whether she is still alive and questions about her are increasing day by day. This is perhaps inevitable given the startling nature of the story, in addition to the girl’s self-isolation. Perhaps, Lina was afraid that people in the community would judge her and her family. 80 years later, the case of Medina is still a strange story. Neither Lina nor her family benefited in any way from this story, and medical records from that time still document her condition fully. There are only two pictures of Lina when she was pregnant. And only a low-resolution profile picture was published alongside medical documents. Up to now, the case of a 5-year-old girl giving birth to a healthy baby is still a rare story and a mysterious problem that medicine has not found the answer to. Although Lina’s record includes various medical records handled by the doctors, the abdominal X-ray showed that the bones of the fetus were developing in Medina’s body. The blood test also confirmed the baby’s pregnancy was completely normal. The analyzes in the file were all reviewed by contemporary researchers, and they were unable to find any errors in Lina’s case. Lina seems to have received fairly good medical care, especially around the time she lived and gave birth to a healthy 2.7kg baby boy on May 14, 1939. The child was born Gerardo and was taken to Tiburelo Medina’s home as soon as he was released. Gerardo grew up thinking that Lina was his older sister, he only knew the truth when he was a teenager. In a 1955 interview, Gerardo stated that he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up. Despite having no disability or health problems, in 1979, Gerardo passed away at the age of 40 of natural causes. In addition to breaking records as the world’s youngest mother, Lina Medina has lived a normal life in Peru. While many people learn about the reason why Lina became pregnant early, child education expert Paul Koask (Columbia University, USA) asked another question. She visited Medina’s family 2 years after Lina gave birth. Koask found Lina “smarter than usual” and growing steadily. According to Time magazine, Lina works as a secretary at Dr. Lozada’s clinic. He was the one who financially supported her to go to school and raised Gerardo. Lina then married a man named Raul in the early 1970s and gave birth to her second child in 1972, at the age of 39. Lina and Raul were not wealthy people. They are still together and live in a poor neighborhood in Lima, called Chicago Chico. The special story of a 5-year-old mother inspired obstetrician Jose Sandoval to write the book Mother Aged 5, which gathers the research and details surrounding this case. Lina herself and her family still keep the principle of being secretive in front of the media as well as those around them. The case of Lina Medina has left the pediatricians astounded and of course this fact has been thoroughly researched. But so far, the true story of the world’s youngest mother Lina Medina and the circumstances surrounding her strange story are still many unanswered mysteries.

“I promise to take them home,” said Rommel, the man’s voice distorted behind the two masks he wore on his face. Mr. Rommel finally broke his promise. Just three days later, Rommel’s brother Juan Carlos, 52 years old, died waiting for his turn to be used in the active treatment room at Rebagliati hospital in the capital Lima. The very next day, Rommel’s 80-year-old mother died of encephalitis, a symptom the doctor said was Covid-19. Four days after the mother’s death, Rommel’s father also passed away. “The pain is really so great, I cannot face this truth,” Mr. Rommel could not hide his agony. Massacre in South America On April 18, Peru experienced the deadliest day since the pandemic broke out with 433 patients dying of Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 57,000. New strains, the most serious of which are strain P1, are pushing Peru into the next wave of epidemics, the country’s authorities warned. And Peru is no exception in South America. Latin American countries are in despair when the P1 strain spreads faster than ever, making the epidemic situation worse and worse. New cases and deaths rose again in Argentina, Boliva, Peru, Venezueala and Uruguay, with the P1 strain being thought to be the cause behind the new epidemic wave. Hospitals in many South American cities are overcrowded due to too many patients with Covid-19. Photo: AP. “The Brazilian sea of ​​strains has infiltrated nearly every corner of the region,” warned Peruvian Health Minister Osscar Ugarte. Peru, one of the most serious outbreaks in the world, is now entering the deadliest phase of the pandemic. Ester Sabino, a Brazilian scientist tracking the spread of the P1 strain, said genetic analysis confirmed the P1 strain appeared from the city of Manaus in the Brazilian state of Amazon in the second half of November 2020. In just a few weeks, Manaus gained worldwide fame after city hospitals were overwhelmed by a surge in patients. The P1 strain knocked out the medical system at the places it passed, depleting the oxygen stores, causing many patients to die from not receiving timely treatment. “What we are witnessing is a massacre,” said a health worker at Manaus. Sabino initially hoped the Brazilian epidemic, along with the spread of the P1 strain, could be under control by 2021 when the vaccine begins to be widely distributed. But the Brazilian authorities failed. The spread of the P1 strain is now completely out of control. In Araraquara, a city south of Sao Paulo, a blockade was issued after the outbreak of P1 positive cases. Across Brazil, hospitals are overflowing with Covid-19 patients, many of them in their youths, in contrast to what happened in the early onset of the epidemic. The number of deaths in Brazil doubled in just three months, from 195,000 in early January to more than 384,000 as of April 23. “This strain not only spread much more strongly, it also significantly reduced the effectiveness of the vaccine, increasing the rate of re-infection,” said Antonio Quispe, a Peruvian epidemiologist. Quispe described the P1 strain spreading “quickly and brutally”, bringing a bad nightmare to South America. Incubator of dangerous strains Fearing new strains with vaccine resistance, governments of some countries have tightened traffic control and closed borders with South America. Recently, France has banned all flights from Brazil, French Prime Minister Jean Castex explained that Brazil is experiencing a “terrible” epidemic. “Europe has the right to fear what is happening in Brazil. The more the virus spreads, the more new strains appear. The situation is now extremely, extremely serious,” said Marcos Boulos, infectious disease expert. from the University of Sao Paulo, said. South American countries, where the epidemic is spreading out of control, provide ideal environments for the incubation of new virus strains, Boulos warned. Mr. Boulos’s judgment was correct in India. Variant B.1.617 – Indian variant – is the product of the superinfection in the South Asian country. Last week, India has twice set a world record for corona virus cases on April 22-23. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi likened the health crisis to a “hurricane” that swept across the country. Scientist Miguel Nicolelis criticizes President Jair Bolsonaro’s erroneous strategy that has turned Brazil, South America’s most populous nation, into a global corona virus threat. The coffin carrying the body of the deceased Covid-19 patient is taken to a cemetery in Manaus, Brazil. Photo: AFP. “Brazil is now like an incubator, creating all kinds of strains of the virus,” said Nicolelis. While some mutations can weaken the virus, others have the potential to make the virus spread more aggressively, or increase their virulence, the scientist warns. Scientists also rang alarm bells about the epidemic situation in India’s 1.3 billion population. “Change can happen even faster there. India is paving the way for the advent of countless mutations. It’s a terrifying prospect,” warned Nicoleles. “Countries like Brazil and India cannot be spurned or abandoned. They need help, because disease is not a problem for any country, it is a worldwide problem,” said Nicolelis. . In Lima, Mr. Rommel still does not know what type of virus has killed three of his relatives. Even so, the man understands the scale of the disaster engulfing the country, where more than 57,000 people have died from Covid-19. “There are 30 patients waiting in line for each intensive care bed, and they prioritize young patients,” which was what the doctor told Rommel when he took his brother Joan Carlos to the hospital at the end of the month. 3. After being admitted to the hospital, Rommel’s brother never got a chance to leave the emergency room. He died only 3 days after pneumonia and pneumothorax. “The plague here is like a war where people are dying because they can’t find a hospital bed,” Rommel said sourly. India ‘broke the game’ in the second wave of Covid-19 India is being devastated by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In just 24 hours, the number of deaths due to the country’s pandemic reached 2,000 people and more than 300,000 new cases.