Girl, 6, Undergoes Quadruple Amputation : Medicine: Doctors are forced to take drastic measures when severe complications to chicken pox set in.

A 6-year-old girl--initially diagnosed at two medical facilities near her Imperial Beach home as having the chicken pox--had to have her arms and legs amputated after complications set in, a Children’s Hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

Jessica Lynn Esquivel has been in critical condition at the hospital since April 1, on “full kidney support.” The one ray of hope, according to hospital administrators, is that, while she had been on a respirator, she is now breathing on her own.

With lesions covering most of her body, Jessica was admitted to the emergency room of Sharp Memorial Hospital around 2 p.m. April 1. Shortly thereafter, she was transferred to nearby Children’s Hospital.

Though some of the circumstances surrounding her illness are unclear, Mark Morelli, a spokesman for Children’s Hospital, said the lesions developed a secondary infection that triggered a toxic reaction.

“It was this toxic, shock-like condition that injured her internal organs, caused a loss of blood pressure, and led to a severe cardiac disturbance,” Morelli said. “The circulation to her extremities--the arms, and the legs below the knees--was basically shut down. When this happens, it’s the body’s own defense system trying to protect the heart and brain.

“As the shock set in, the damage was quite quick, and quite severe. Later that night (around 10 p.m. on April 1), it was clear she was in a life-threatening situation and was a great deal sicker than she would have been if it was just the chicken pox.”

Morelli said doctors at Children’s Hospital performed surgery to try to relieve the pressure on the child’s extremities, “but the main concern was keeping her alive.” Because she had no circulation in her arms and legs, they were amputated about a week ago, he said.

Hospital administrators said the girl’s parents, Felix and Lisa Esquivel, told them that doctors at two medical facilities near their home had diagnosed Jessica as having chicken pox.

Sharon Ross, Children’s Hospital spokeswoman, said Jessica definitely did have chicken pox at one point, but developed a “very unusual complication, a type of virus that sometimes accompanies chicken pox in very rare situations.”

A petite, brown-eyed girl with long brown hair and a round, full face, Jessica was shown on a local newscast Tuesday night before her illness--tap-dancing while wearing a special pink outfit.

Felix Esquivel said his daughter was diagnosed as having the chicken pox March 27. The couple’s other child, a 4-year-old boy, had contracted the disease earlier and is fine now.

Esquivel said his daughter began hallucinating the night of March 30 and was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital in Chula Vista. He said the nurse on duty told his wife the hallucinations were from Benedryl--an antihistamine used to lessen the discomfort from allergies and itchiness--which another doctor had prescribed earlier. He said the nurse instructed his wife to give the girl a cool bath along with some Tylenol, and if her fever did not go down, to bring her back.

When Jessica’s fever failed to drop below 104 degrees, Lisa Esquivel took the girl back to the Chula Vista hospital, this time shortly after 1 a.m. March 31.

He said the doctor on duty in the emergency room told his wife to take Jessica home and calm down.

“He told my wife that she worried too much,” Esquivel said. “He said, ‘You worry too much.’ But now my daughter doesn’t have hands or feet . . . and it’s hard.”

A spokeswoman for Scripps Memorial, who asked not to be identified, said she knew nothing about the case and declined to comment further.

Later in the day on March 31, Esquivel said, his daughter’s ankles began to swell. This time, his wife took her to another doctor, a pediatrician in Imperial Beach, who said, in Esquivel’s words: “If she hasn’t fallen on it, don’t worry about it. It’s probably because of the chicken pox.”

When the girl’s symptoms only intensified over the next day, April 1, another pediatrician that Lisa Esquivel contacted by phone told her to rush her child to the emergency room of Sharp Memorial.