This baby with progeria syndrome did not speak at birth

This article is more than one year old.
Published on March 3, 2020 at 12:16
Updated on March 3, 2020 at 12:31
2 min read
By Amanuel NEGUEDE

Thousands of Facebook users are sharing a picture of a newborn baby with aged facial features. The various posts claim this child spoke at birth, saying Christ was coming. This is false; the boy in the picture suffers from genetic disorder progeria, and the video of his birth shows he didn’t utter a word.

The Facebook post published in January, which has been shared more than 47,000 times, warns its audience they will “have a disease” if they do not share it. We’ve archived the post here.

“Newborn child speaks and says Christ is coming to repent that Christ is coming and says that He who does not share this photo will have a disease until he Dies [sic],” the post reads.

A screenshot taken on February 28,2020 showing a misleading Facebook post

Many of the thousands of comments under the post include supportive messages like “back to sender in the name of Jesus” or “Amen”. The majority of responses seem to view the post as genuine.

Screenshot of comments below misleading Facebook post, taken February 28,2020

Who is the boy?

AFP ran reverse images searches using various tools such as Yandex and Tineye to trace the original source of this image.

The image appeared on the Daily Mail’s website in September 2016, four and a half years prior to the Facebook post that was shared thousands of times. The Daily Mail’s article explains the medical condition of the newborn baby.

Born in Magura, Bangladesh, the son of Biswajit and Parul Patro was born with aged facial features.

The story was also covered by Yahoo News here.

Photographs of the baby also fuelled rumours on Twitter, with claims his birth was a “divine miracle”.

The video below shows the baby does not utter a word. While the footage filmed by the Caters news agency does not have any comments, you can hear the baby cry while the doctor touches the infant.

AFP has contacted Caters regarding the birth of this baby and will update this fact check upon response.

The story has also surfaced on Twitter with claims that the doctor who examined the newborn estimates him to be 75 years old.

A tweet from February 18 archived here and translated into English reads: “Divine miracle. This baby is born in Bangladesh! Doctors estimate his life to be 75 years old after a medical examination![sic]”

A screenshot of a Tweet, taken February 28,2020

Progeria disease

According to the Progeria Research Foundation, progeria, also called Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is a rare and deadly medical condition characterised by aged features at birth.

Affecting about one in 20 million children, the disease has been found in 52 countries.

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