Baby Z -- Long Shot Is Successful

An infant, known as "Baby Z," in Melbourne, Australia given zero chance of survival has amazed doctors after being saved with one of the biggest long shots in medical history.  (Herald Sun)

                                                

Baby Z was born, 18 months ago, with a rare condition called molybdenum cofactor deficiency — a fatal condition that poisons the brain with toxic sulphite, resulting in seizures and death in early childhood.  Baby Z's toxic sulphite levels were almost 30 times higher than normal and were dissolving her brain.

But Baby Z’s parents did not give up.  Their team found a research paper by German plant biologist Gunther Schwarz describing how he had developed an experimental drug that was able to save mice with the disease in 2004.  The drug had only been used in animals and nobody knew what it would do in a human.

The Australian hospital's ethics committee approved using the drug on Baby Z, because the only other option was a painful death.  A Family Court also approved the treatment.

Just hours of receiving her first daily dose, tests showed Baby Z's sulphite levels immediately dropped from near 300 to below 100. Within three days they fell to the normal level of about 10.  Baby Z's neurological development is delayed due to some brain damage in the weeks it took to find the cure, but she is now improving.