Infant down with meningitis, doctors put her back on ventilator

A day after the doctors at AIIMS drained cerebrospinal fluid that had collected in a part of the two-year-old infant's brain, tests confirmed that she is suffering from Meningitis – a bacterial infection of membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. Doctors also opined that there is possibility that chest infection developed from prolonged intubation in the ICU could have affected her brain.

Dr. Deepak Agarwal, from the Neurosurgery department of AIIMS Trauma Centre said that the chest infection could have spread through her blood and affected the brain.

Doctors who had insected her antibiotics to control the infection said that she could take anywhere between four to five days to respond. Dr. Misra, Chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre said that she was already suffering from chest infection and now they have diagonised that she is having brain infection as well. And added that therefore they will be injecting antibiotics into her body so as to control the infection but the next 28-72 hours is treated to be critical as they will get to know how she is reacting to the antibiotic.

Doctors have also been conducting tests to ascertain her brain function. Dr. Misra said that when they give a slight pain stimuli, as per the norm, she opens her eye lids slightly and there is lower limb movement.

After her breathing became laboured on Sunday evening, the infant was put back on a ventilator support. The baby is given a high-protein diet through a Ryle's Tube inserted in her stomach.

Reported by

   AR   

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