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Pope Francis is in a critical condition after he had an asthmatic respiratory crisis in hospital, the Vatican medical team said.
The 88-year-old pontiff has been in hospital for more than a week after pneumonia.
The latest health collapse required high flows of oxygen, the Vatican said according to the AP.
He is in ‘more pain than yesterday,’ the Vatican said in a statement.
The leader of the Catholic church also received blood transfusions after tests showed he had a condition linked to anemia.
Doctors said previously he is not ‘out of danger’ yet. Now the main concern is said to be the risk of sepsis.
The pontiff has been in Gemelli hospital in Rome since February 14 after a bout of bronchitis got worse.
The hospital’s head of medicine and surgery, Dr Sergio Alfieri, said the pope ‘knows he’s in danger.’
‘And he told us to relay that,’ Dr Alfieri added.
He was then diagnosed with a complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection followed by pneumonia in both lungs.
Pope Francis was prescribed ‘absolute rest’ along with cortisone and antibiotics and supplemental oxygen when needed, according to the news agency.
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that can cause total organ failure and death.
Dr Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and surgery at Gemelli hospital, said: ‘Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of.
‘The English say ‘knock on wood,’ we say ‘touch iron.’ Everyone touch what they want.
‘But this is the real risk in these cases: that these germs pass to the bloodstream.’
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