What is SCID: Mannat is the first child in Singapore who was diagnosed with SCID at birth. Even a normal fever could have been dangerous for him due to SCID. What is SCID?

Singapore News: A 19-month-old Indian-origin child in Singapore has completely recovered from a rare life-threatening genetic disorder after a stem-cell transplant. This information was received from a media report. According to a report in 'The Straits Times' newspaper, this child named Mannat Singh was diagnosed with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) when he was just six days old. Due to SCID, even a normal fever could be dangerous for him.

The first child to be diagnosed with SCID at birth

Mannat is Singapore's first child to be diagnosed with SCID at birth. She had a successful stem-cell transplant in 2023 before SCID symptoms emerged. The newspaper reported that Mannat is now healthy. Mannat had 'Artemis SCID', a rare form of 'recessive radiosensitive SCID'. This meant she could not be treated with radiation or undergo certain scans.

According to the newspaper report, if there was no treatment, Mannat might not have been able to celebrate his first birthday. His 39-year-old mother Harminder Kaur is a nurse while his 39-year-old father Harminder Singh is an IT consultant. Kaur was very worried and scared about her little son's disease.

"The circumstances were totally against her, our state of mind was not good at all," her husband Harminder Singh said. "I feel life is normal now and we have left the past behind," Kaur said. Mannat's disease was detected through the National Expanded Newborn Screening (NENS) programme at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

Covers treatable serious childhood illnesses

The programme began in 2006 with the aim of screening all babies born in Singapore for metabolic and genetic disorders. The programme was expanded in 2019 to include five more treatable serious childhood diseases such as SCID and cystic fibrosis.

Dr Bianca Chan, consultant of the rheumatology and immunology service at KKH, said the only real cure for SCID is a bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor. Stem cells from the bone marrow of a healthy donor can develop into infection-fighting T-cells, helping infants with SCID build a functioning immune system.

He said, "If the disease is detected before the child develops any other infection, then the treatment is more likely to be successful within three to four months. In such a situation, SCID screening at birth becomes important."