Infant on Argentine Flight Is Expected to Recover Fully : Health: Passenger on plane that brought cholera here was stricken with a mystery illness.

An 8-month-old girl who was stricken with a mysterious illness after deplaning from the Aerolineas Argentinas flight that brought cholera to Southern California was in stable condition and expected to recover fully, hospital officials said Wednesday.

Jessica Marini was found to have hemolytic uremic syndrome, a kidney disease that often strikes infants and young children. The illness, which can be triggered by a bacteria or virus, is commonly transmitted through feces and is not expected to threaten the life of the Argentine girl.

“The prognosis is good,” said Dr. Nick Anas, director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of Orange County in Orange. “We expect the child to survive and the kidney problem to be resolved.”

“She’s awake,” he said. “She’s alert. Sometimes she’s playful.”

The little girl, who entered the intensive care unit Sunday night, was placed on a dialysis machine Tuesday when she suffered complete kidney failure. A tube inserted in her abdomen lining will remove waste products until her kidneys have recovered fully, Anas said.

Lab technicians have not yet implicated a particular virus or bacteria. But often, none is ever identified in these cases, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, the baby’s father, Osvaldo Marini, 32, arrived Tuesday in Orange County. The airline flew him here and has also offered to pay the hospital bills, he said.

His wife, Liliana, 26, and their daughter were among the 336 passengers who boarded the ill-fated plane on Valentine’s Day. After hearing of the health alert for passengers aboard the flight, Liliana Marini contacted the health department. She tested positive for cholera but had no symptoms. Doctors say she is fine.

By Wednesday afternoon, 34 passengers had tested positive for cholera, a state Department of Health Services spokesman said. One person has died of the disease.