Babies Health

Just over a month after flesh-eating bacteria ravaged the right side of her tiny body, Baby Rosa celebrated her first birthday Friday with squeals of delight. The party at Northridge Hospital Medical Center had the usual balloons, cake, punch and plenty of presents from the doctors and nurses who treated the Oxnard infant as she battled the deadly bacteria. But the greatest gift could not be wrapped. Baby Rosa's freedom.

Nearly a month after so-called flesh-eating bacteria ravaged the right side of her tiny body, baby Rosa celebrated her first birthday Friday with squeals of delight. The party at Northridge Hospital Medical Center had the usual balloons, cake, punch and plenty of presents from the doctors and nurses who treated the Oxnard infant as she battled the deadly bacteria. But the greatest gift could not be wrapped. The baby's freedom.

Closing an investigation that began in July, state officials have determined that Ventura County Medical Center properly cared for a 1-year-old Oxnard girl who suffered from a flesh-eating bacteria. "The investigation was limited to the complaint and the complaint was whether the county handled the case appropriately," said Lea Brooks, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services. The complaint was filed after questions were raised by the child's grandmother.

Baby Rosa, the Oxnard infant stricken with flesh-eating bacteria, will be released from the hospital today--her first birthday. Rosa Olvera arrived at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in critical condition in early July, after surgeons in Ventura County removed muscle tissue and nearly 20% of her skin infected by the bacteria. At Northridge, Rosa underwent two skin grafts.

World health authorities are poised to embark on a treatment program that they say could reduce the number of children with AIDS in developing countries and save as many as 5,000 children's lives in the first year alone, researchers said Monday at the 12th World AIDS Congress. Of the 16,000 people who contract AIDS every day, 1 in 10 are infants who are infected during childbirth.

Nursing moms, take note: Whatever medicines you're taking get passed along to your child. Here are some points to consider. Most medications taken in normal doses are safe for the breast-feeding mother. But even safe drugs will be passed along in your breast milk and affect your baby to some degree. For example: * Antibiotics can cause diarrhea. * Antihistamines can lead to irritability. * Prescription pain drugs and sedatives can cause drowsiness.

The common practice of giving steroids to premature infants at 2 weeks of age to help wean them from ventilators is being called into question after a large federal study found that treatment so early in the child's development increases the risk of infection and slows growth. About 7% of the infants born annually in the United States weigh less than 5.5 pounds at birth, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. About 1% weigh as little as 3.

For decades taking a blood sample by pricking a newborn's heel to test for phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited metabolic disorder, has been standard practice in hospitals. But a new study suggests that the practice is painful and that taking blood from the back of a baby's hand hurts less. Researchers at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm divided 120 healthy, full-term newborns into three groups.

The 2-day-old conjoined Garcia twins underwent surgery Thursday, first to remove a blockage of Gabrielle's esophagus and, if all went well, to release a constriction in Micheala's aorta. The surgery was expected to extend into the evening, and the results would not be released until today, said a spokeswoman for the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital.

In findings that could prove important for controlling the spread of AIDS in developing nations, short-term use of the drug AZT for infected women late in pregnancy and during delivery reduced transmission to infants by half, U.S. and Thai health officials announced Wednesday. This is significant because the therapy involves a shorter duration and much less expensive regimen of the drug than that typically prescribed for infected pregnant women in the United States.