Mother Teresa Develops Chest Infection

Mother Teresa fought against a new chest infection and an irregular heartbeat Saturday as people in India and elsewhere prayed for the recovery of the beloved Roman Catholic nun.

Mother Teresa, whose 86th birthday is Tuesday, was alert but under a round-the-clock doctor’s vigil at a Calcutta nursing home.

Doctors had hoped to remove her respirator Saturday but decided against it when her condition worsened.

“Her condition is not good. The general condition has remained unchanged. She has had bouts of irregular heartbeats,” Dr. S. K. Sen, medical director at Calcutta’s Woodlands Nursing Home, told reporters, adding that she had developed a chest infection.

Asked to elaborate on her cardiac condition, Sen said: “She had a very brief heart failure which was adequately treated. Her cardiac status still remains unstable.”

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate had been hospitalized since Tuesday, when she developed a 100-degree fever brought on by malaria. Two days later, her heart stopped beating for almost a minute. She was revived with shock treatments.

Her left ventricle, one of the heart’s four chambers, continued to fail Saturday, Dr. Sandeep Lahiri said. The ventricle first failed on Friday, and doctors administered an anticoagulant to ease the flow of blood.

Mother Teresa, who had a pacemaker implanted after an earlier heart attack, was responding to visitors by nodding her head. Medical support systems were hindering her ability to speak.

At the chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, the order Mother Teresa founded, 200 nuns wearing the order’s blue-trimmed habits knelt at dawn Saturday, praying for her recovery.

About 100 boys and girls of all faiths from an orphanage run by Mother Teresa sang hymns before a large crucifix.

Saturday marked the 306th anniversary of Calcutta, Mother Teresa’s home of more than 65 years. Authorities released a previously prepared statement from her in honor of the occasion.

“I am especially grateful to God that he has arranged for Calcutta to be my home for many years,” Mother Teresa’s statement said. “Here he has given me the joy of loving and serving him in the distressing disguise of the poor.”