Italy: Baby Tests Positive for Cocaine - Parents Investigated for Abuse

An Italian couple are being investigated after their six-month-old baby tested positive for Cocaine.

The parents, both former drug addicts, took their baby to hospital in Padua, Veneto region, as he had high fever and red eyes.

Doctors were initially unable to identify the problem with the infant. Only when consulting the blood tests results did the medical staff understand the cause of the baby's symptoms.

It is believed that the parents, a 38-year-old chef and a 23-year-old housewife, inadvertently drugged the baby by touching him without washing their hands, straight after they had consumed cocaine.

The child, whose condition is now stable, has been taken away from the couple, who is currently being investigated on charges of abuse.

The parents can still visit their son, who is now in a secure facility, but only if accompanied by a supervisor.

Police searched the parents' house but did not find any drugs, the Corrier del ventero reported, adding that the mother claimed she didn't take cocaine during the pregnancy.

The parents reportedly tried to commit suicide after their son tested positive for the drug. They have been held in hospital since.

In April 2014, a mother of three was arrested in Sicily, as one of her sons tested positive for cocaine after being admitted to hospital with bruises and burns.