Critically Ill Infant Gains Ground, Eats Molly Completes 12 Treatments In Hyperbaric Chamber

Sat., June 24, 2000

By Ken Olsen keno@spokesman.com

Send up a cheer for Molly.

The 4-week-old St. Ignatius, Mont., baby is beginning to heal in her bout with necrotizing fasciitis - the deadly flesh-killing bacteria that invaded her navel two weeks ago.

Molly Catherine McGreevey started eating again Thursday and is being eased off of intravenous feeding. Antibiotic treatments are continuing.

Her twice daily, 2-1/2-hour treatments in the hyperbaric chamber ended Tuesday. Her condition is stable and improving. She may be released as early as next week.

“Everybody’s so excited she’s doing so well,” said Julie J. Kaplicky, a spokeswoman for Deaconess Medical Center.

Molly was flown to Deaconess June 14 from Missoula Community Center and immediately taken to surgery. There doctors removed the flesh killed by the particularly virulent strain of group A streptococcus.

They then used 12 sessions in Deaconess’ hyperbaric chamber to push intense levels of oxygen into her bloodstream. The strep bacteria die when exposed to oxygen.

The hyperbaric chamber normally is used to treat scuba divers suffering from the bends. It emulates the pressure a diver finds at 33 feet.

Molly is the youngest person to be treated in Deaconess’ hyperbaric chamber. A nurse had to accompany her into the chamber, spending the hours keeping the baby breathing. Doctors credit the treatment as key in stopping the invasive and often fatal disease.

Molly’s mother, Annette, noticed the area around her daughter’s navel was red and puffy June 10. An emergency room doctor advised her to monitor the child overnight and bring her back the next afternoon if the problem didn’t ease.

By the next morning, the pain was so intense, Molly’s parents took her to see another doctor. He dispatched them to the Missoula hospital. Two days of intensive antibiotic treatment failed to stop the infection. MedStar was summoned to fly Molly to Spokane.

Molly was born healthy and without complications.

This sidebar appeared with the story: BACKGROUND Deadly bacteria

Necrotizing fasciitis is one of a handful of especially troublesome strains of the same bacteria that causes strep throat. Doctors are not sure why the strep bacteria becomes so deadly in some people, while causing relatively mild problems in others.

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