Doctors ‘Concerned’ for Mother Teresa : Health: Physicians say treatment of the 81-year-old missionary nun’s bacterial pneumonia has had little effect. They call her illness ‘life-threatening.’

Physicians treating Mother Teresa said Tuesday that the missionary nun’s health has not improved and that they are “very concerned about her prognosis.”

At a briefing at Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation here, the two doctors treating the 81-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner said the treatment for her bacterial pneumonia has had little effect.

While procedures to treat congestive heart failure brought on by the pneumonia have been successful, the medical regimen required to reduce the risk of heart attack has its own risks that could lead to internal bleeding or a stroke, they said.

“She has a life-threatening illness,” said Dr. Paul Teirstein, director of interventional cardiology at Scripps. “We hope she responds to the treatment, but time will tell.

“Pneumonia takes a while to clear, particularly if you’re 81 years old,” Teirstein said. “She appeared to have a bit of response (to antibiotics) but it’s too early to tell. At her age, she can go up or down. She can have setbacks.”

But physicians and friends of the woman known as the “Saint of the Gutters” for her work in the slums of Calcutta say she remains in good spirits and is a bit taken aback by the attention.

“She’s very grateful, but she’s apologetic for all the trouble she’s causing,” said Dr. Anita Figueredo, a longtime friend who has seen the nun daily since she was hospitalized Thursday.

“She has utter trust in God, and is accepting of what he may chose to do with her,” Figueredo said. “She’s a very good patient, but she doesn’t see the point of it all. She says if God wants her to stay, fine, but if he’s through with her, that’s fine too.”

The nun is “resigned . . . but hasn’t given up in any sense.”

Pope John Paul II called Mother Teresa at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Figueredo said. “That really picked her up. I don’t know what he said, but I suspect he laid down the law with her, to take care of herself.”

Since the news that Mother Teresa’s health took a turn for the worse, seminarians and nuns have held 24-hour prayer vigils at the five Tijuana religious communities operated by her order, the Missionaries of Charity.

“At mealtimes, all of the migrants and the others have been praying for her,” said Arturo Jimenez, a volunteer at the order’s shelter. “The nuns are praying for her constantly,” he said.

Several blocks away, in the Missionaries of Charity seminary, young seminarians pray for Mother Teresa in hourly shifts around the clock.

Their vigil was joined periodically by locals.

“Mother Teresa has always been frail,” said 17-year-old factory worker Hilda Talamantes. “I think she’s sick now because of her age, and because she has worked so hard taking care of all of us all of these years.”

Teirstein and Dr. Patricia Aubanel said the nun first showed flu-like symptoms during her stay in Tijuana. She has had previous bouts with pneumonia, but this more serious malady led to congestive heart failure.

“She had an underlying problem with her heart, and the pneumonia stressed her system so that her heart disease became more important,” Teirstein said.

On Sunday, she underwent angioplasty to increase the flow of oxygen to her heart. There is a 25% to 30% chance that she will be a candidate for another angioplasty--or perhaps heart surgery--within the next six months, Teirstein said.