Harbor Health, in collaboration with top experts, is saving the life of critically ill patient from Mongolia.

Six months ago, Mr. T (pseudonym), a 56-year-old man from Mongolia, began experiencing recurring unexplained fevers accompanied by heart discomfort and other symptoms. Despite repeated attempts at antibiotic and anti-infective treatments at local hospitals, the underlying cause remained elusive. As his condition worsened, Mr. T developed severe heart and kidney failure, his bodily functions rapidly declined, and his life became critical. Local medical resources were insufficient to handle this complex and critical situation. After seeking help from various sources, his family ultimately placed their hopes on Harbor Health. Harbor Health immediately activated its emergency response plan for critically ill patients, coordinating ambulances in advance, providing immediate assistance at the airport, efficiently handling customs clearance procedures, and quickly transporting the patient to the designated hospital, thus saving valuable time for subsequent treatment.

Case Overview

Six months ago, Mr. T (pseudonym), a 56-year-old man from Mongolia, began experiencing recurring unexplained fevers accompanied by heart discomfort and other symptoms. Despite repeated attempts at antibiotic and anti-infective treatments at local hospitals, the underlying cause remained elusive. As his condition worsened, Mr. T developed severe heart and kidney failure, his bodily functions rapidly declined, and his life became critical. Local medical resources were insufficient to handle this complex and critical situation. After seeking help from various sources, his family ultimately placed their hopes on Harbor Health. Harbor Health immediately activated its emergency response plan for critically ill patients, coordinating ambulances in advance, providing immediate assistance at the airport, efficiently handling customs clearance procedures, and quickly transporting the patient to the designated hospital, thus saving valuable time for subsequent treatment.

Cause & Challenge

The illness was critical, so they sought help from Harbor Health to survive. Top-tier collaboration enables precise problem-solving and identification of the root cause.

Why China

Harbor Health connected the patient with appropriate Chinese medical resources, coordinated expert review, hospital access, interpretation, and treatment planning based on the case needs.

Treatment & Benefits

Diagnosis, rare blood coordination, complex surgery, and rehabilitation.

Full Story

The illness was critical, so they sought help from Harbor Health to survive.

Top-tier collaboration enables precise problem-solving and identification of the root cause.

Faced with Mr. T's complex condition, Harbor Health quickly organized a multidisciplinary consultation involving experts from Beijing Fuwai Hospital, Peking University International Hospital, and BGI Genomics Laboratory, establishing a comprehensive treatment system encompassing diagnosis, testing, and support. Beijing Fuwai Hospital, a world-leading cardiovascular disease treatment center, is a global leader in cardiac surgery , particularly in complex procedures such as heart valve replacement, coronary artery bypass grafting , and artificial hearts . Its heart transplant success rate and postoperative survival rate are among the highest in the world. BGI Genomics Laboratory is a pioneer and leading company in high-throughput sequencing of pathogenic microorganisms, and a benchmark institution in the global genomics field. Its parent company, BGI Group, has been ranked first in the Asia-Pacific region for ten consecutive years in the Nature Index bioscience industry, and is projected to rank fourth globally in 2025. It is also the only institution globally possessing long and short read genome sequencing, cell omics, and spatiotemporal omics technologies, breaking the technological monopoly of Europe and the United States in gene sequencing.

With the collaborative efforts of Harbor Health and its expert team, the treatment proceeded simultaneously: on one hand, Mr. T was immediately placed on dialysis to maximize kidney function and alleviate organ damage caused by previous medications; on the other hand, BGI Genomics' most advanced high-throughput sequencing technology for pathogens (mNGS gene detection) was used to comprehensively screen for the patient's infection. This technology, a sequencing platform and detection solution with independent intellectual property rights from BGI Genomics , can detect more than 36,000 pathogens at once, and complete localized testing and delivery within as little as 10 hours, providing strong support for the accurate diagnosis of complex and severe infections. Ultimately, the test results accurately confirmed that Mr. T was infected with Bartonella pentaphyllum, thus definitively diagnosing him with heart disease caused by infective endocarditis—a crucial diagnosis that pointed the core direction for subsequent treatment.

Bartonella pentaphyllum is a facultative intracellular Gram-negative short bacillus, a zoonotic infectious agent, and one of the common pathogens causing blood culture-negative infective endocarditis. It is extremely dangerous; if left untreated, it can continuously invade the cardiovascular system, leading to serious complications such as heart valve damage and heart failure. It can also affect multiple organs, including the kidneys and nervous system, ultimately endangering life. Common infection scenarios include animal infections, exposure in unsanitary environments, and outdoor work. Mr. T's condition progressed rapidly precisely because the cause remained unclear for a long time, leading to continuous damage to the heart and kidneys by the pathogen and missing the optimal early treatment window.

Overcoming difficulties and implementing multiple safeguards to save lives.

After a definitive diagnosis, the expert team further assessed the situation and found that due to the prolonged delay in treatment, Bartonella 5-day-old had caused severe and irreversible damage to Mr. T's heart, necessitating immediate heart valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting. However, new challenges arose: Mr. T's blood type was extremely rare, making it difficult to obtain the necessary blood for the surgery. Insufficient blood would prevent the surgery from proceeding smoothly, and the patient could die from heart failure at any moment. To overcome this blood shortage, Harbor Health mobilized its resources, activating a nationwide rare blood type coordination mechanism, and successfully completed blood preparation before the scheduled surgery time. Subsequently, the surgical team, led by experts from Fuwai Hospital, leveraged their exceptional medical skills and extensive clinical experience to perform a complex 8-hour surgery—simultaneous heart valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting—a procedure of extremely high difficulty and risk. Ultimately, the surgery was a complete success, saving Mr. T's life.

The successful surgery was only the first step; postoperative intensive care and rehabilitation were equally crucial. Meanwhile, kidney treatment became a new core challenge. Harbor Health quickly coordinated efforts to assist Mr. T in being transferred to the nephrology ward and initiating targeted kidney rehabilitation therapy to help him restore kidney function. Currently, Mr. T's kidney function is recovering steadily, and his vital signs are stabilizing. It is hoped that after a second phase of treatment, he will gradually be able to wean off dialysis and return to a normal life.

This cross-border life-or-death rescue, from accurate diagnosis to complex surgery, from rare blood matching to postoperative rehabilitation, every step of the process demonstrated Harbor Health's "patient-centered" personalized service philosophy and its powerful ability to integrate the most advanced technology, top hospitals, and most comprehensive protection.