Anita

Anita is a 10 year old girl who had open heart surgery last June at the Shisong Cardiac Center.  She has been doing very well and had a routine check at Shisong 1 week ago.  Her Cardiologist restarted some medications that she had taken prior to her surgery.  By the next day she was extremely lethargic with some fever.  She was admitted and all her blood tests were normal and the new medications were stopped.  Over the weekend she woke a little bit but was still extremely weak and could not sit or stand.  Her affect was very strange with inappropriate laughing.  Tuesday with her eyes more open I could appreciate that her eyes were not tracking appropriately.  I did a spinal tap which was all normal except some yeast cells were seen on gram stain of the fluid.  I asked for another test and her India Ink smear showed Cryptococcal Meningitis.  This is almost always seen in HIV patients but Anita’s HIV test is negative.  After only 1 day of treatment she was much improved and is able to sit and talk.  We hope she will continue to improvement daily.  Keep her in your prayers.