- Zahlia Adolfo, 2, couldn’t walk six months ago after she became ill with Strep A
- She was left in a coma for seven weeks after she was struck by the infection
- The toddler caught the sickness from her parents but her health deteriorated
- The two-year-old was promised a unicorn party if she pulled through
A two-year-old Victorian girl is lucky to be alive after Strep A almost killed her.
Zahlia Adolfo couldn’t walk six months ago after she was hit with the common bacterial infection.
The toddler was put into an induced coma and battling for her life after she caught the infection from her parents.
Zahlia Adolfo is ‘lucky to be alive’ after she was struck down with Strep A and put into an induced coma
The toddler was on life support in an incubator
Her mother Alana when they started to get better, her daughter’s health deteriorated.
‘She was on life support for 10 days and during the whole time no one could tell us whether she would make it,’ Mrs Adolfo said to Seven News.
Zahlia was put into an incubator and her organs began to fail.
After seven anxious weeks at Zhalia’s bedside, her heart started to beat again on its own, giving her parents’ hope that she would pull through.
The toddler needed multiple blood transfusions and antibiotics to fight the bacteria and survive.
The little girl caught the illness from her parents, Alana and John Adolfo, but failed to recover when they started to get well
Despite a slightly enlarged heart, the two-year-old has no other long-term side effects from her reaction to Strep A
Despite a slightly enlarged heart, Zhalia has no long-term side effects from the terrifying illness.
The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute said it was a severe case of Strep A and you ‘don’t get more super bug than this’.
‘Some of us get a sore throat or tonsillitis then some people can have serious life-threatening illness like Zahlia did,’ Professor Andrew Steer from the institute said.
The institute is one of four places that are developing a vaccine for the illness.