Hospitals have identified at least 30 newborns with what has been identified as “fetal fentanyl syndrome,” NBC News has learned.
The infants had specific physical birth defects: cleft palate, unusually small heads, drooping eyelids, webbed toes and joints that weren’t fully developed.
Birth defects linked to fentanyl by geneticists at Nemours Children’s Health in Wilmington, Del.
But despite a rise in fentanyl misuse, even during pregnancy, there is no indication of a concurrent rise in birth defects.
And most babies exposed to fentanyl in utero aren’t born with the defects that are hallmarks of the fetal fentanyl syndrome.
Persons:
they’d, “, ”, Miguel Del Campo, Del, He’d, Dr, Karen Gripp, Smith, ” Gripp, Karoly Mirnics, Center's Munroe, ” Del Campo, “ They’re
Organizations:
NBC, Rady Children’s, Elsevier, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Psychiatry, University of Nebraska, Meyer Institute, University of California
Locations:
San Diego, Nemours Children’s, Wilmington , Delaware, Wilmington, Del, Nemours, University of California San Diego