Fortis Kolkata Saves a Critically Ill Preterm Infant with a Rare Drug-resistant Infection

News Desk, News Nation 360 : Fortis Hospital Anandapur successfully treated and released a severely unwell preterm infant who was born at 35 weeks of gestation. The baby was suffering from severe respiratory distress and a rare, drug-resistant bacterial illness. This was an amazing demonstration of sophisticated neonatal care and clinical knowledge. The interdisciplinary NICU team, led by Dr Sumita Saha, Consultant-Paediatrics & Neonatology, Fortis Hospital Anandapur, gave the baby a new lease on life with prompt, well-coordinated, and critical treatment. A preterm baby, weighing approximately 2 kgs and born in a city hospital, had developed very severe breathing problems within 24 hours of birth that required ventilation and was urgently shifted to Fortis Hospital, Anandapur, where oxygen and ventilatory requirements kept increasing. The baby arrived in an extremely critical condition with very high ventilation pressure and 100% oxygen, and had to be managed with intensive monitoring and invasive ventilation for nearly 16 days; his blood culture reports showed a very rare and highly drug-resistant infection caused by Elizabethkingia meningoseptica. This pushed the baby into shock and required continuous medication to support his blood pressure and heart function alongside an umbilical venous catheter for the administration of life-saving drugs and fluids. Besides, doctors also diagnosed Patent Ductus Arteriosus, a condition in which the blood vessel connecting the aorta and pulmonary artery fails to close and ends up sending excess blood to the lungs. Additionally, the newborn suffered from Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn, wherein the lungs fail to make the transition after birth, and oxygen levels go down alarmingly, which were thus timely and precisely intervened upon by the neonatal team so that, despite such an array of life-threatening complications, the baby slowly got better. After 16 days, he could be weaned off from invasive ventilation to CPAP, and finally high-flow nasal oxygen as lungs and heart started recovering with coordinated NICU care and strong parental support. Finally, after 36 days in the NICU, the newborn was discharged, healthy, stable, and able to breathe on his own.

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