Dear Editor,
In the September 2023 issue of the Oman Medical Journal, Al Sharqi et al,1 reported an interesting case of immature renal teratoma in an Omani male newborn. However, the report does not mention the HIV status of the mother and the child.
It is known that HIV-positive individuals, including infants, are more susceptible to developing tumors than those who are not infected by the virus.2 Rare cases of teratoma have been reported in HIV-infected neonates.3 Although HIV positivity is low in Oman, the annual trend for new cases is rising.4 Accessible data shows that pregnant Omani women with HIV positivity account for 0.1% (1:1000) with 0.03% of seropositive pregnancies (3:10 000). Of the seropositive cases, 78.6% were known HIV carriers and the remaining 21.4% were newly diagnosed cases.5
We believe this extremely rare case would have been of even more scientific value, had the authors also included the HIV situation of the mother and the neonate by estimating CD4 lymphocyte count and viral load as well as HIV p24 antigen/antibody testing.
References
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