No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

indigo girl · Jun 22, 2009

Buffalo, New York

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/Buffalo_boy_with_H1N1_virus_has_died_20090620

The grandmother of Matthew Davis says he was taken off life support at Women and Children's Hospital just after 6:00 p.m. Saturday.
Davis was an eighth grader at Harvey Austin School 97 on Sycamore Street. His mother said complications from swine flu included pneumonia and MRSA. She said his kidneys were failing, and he was being kept alive by machines.
A nine-year-old girl is also at Women and Children's Hospital with the H1N1 virus. She's a fourth grader at Charles Drew Science Magnet School 59's museum campus. Her mother tells me she's on life support in critical condition, but making progress.
Their schools were not closed
School leaders stress parents should keep kids with flu-like symptoms home.

http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/48732447.html

Grief counselors will be on-site at Harvey Austin, School #97, on Monday to help students and staff deal with the death of a student there, who died Saturday after apparantly contracting swine flu, or the H1N1 virus.
A 9-year-old girl from Buffalo remains in critical condition at the Pediatric ICU at Women and Children's Hospital.
Kimberly Wells, a parent whose daughter attends Harvey Austin, says she is keeping her daughter out of school for the short remainder of the year. She will only allow another daughter in high school to go to Burgard for her final exam.
"They (should) close the schools and end the year," she says. "They can cut down on the percentage of the virus going around from the contact of the children, and the ones that have to finish their exams, let them go into school and then evacuate them out."
But despite the tragic death, the Erie County Health Department does not recommend schools close in these circumstances. Swine flu cases have been confirmed in eleven out of 63 Buffalo Public School locations, and suburban and private schools are seeing it too.
The health department and school districts are urging parents to keep their children home if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms. This includes keeping children home once summer activities begin too.

lamazeteacher · Jun 22, 2009

I wonder if she was obese. We've seen that connection with bad swine flu outcomes and obesity, haven't we?

In that there are a large proportion of diabetics who have been and are obese; and diabetes is an autoimmune condition, there could be that connection........

lamazeteacher · Jun 22, 2009

Our hospital needs a wakeup call. A loud one. It just isn't being thought of. People with fevers and coughs--oh it must be chf. What?

Has anyone awakened the Infection Control Nurse there, (with the MMWR weekly report from CDC)? All hospitals that are accredited must have an IC nurse - full or part time! It could be, too that doctors at your hospital making those diagnoses have their own agenda, and don't encourage investigation or testing for H1N1...... :nono:

lamazeteacher · Jun 22, 2009

Indigo girl: regarding the Erie PA situation, a teacher here in VA told me that the schools can average the earlier work of students, to get a final grade for the year, rather than giving end of year exams. That's if the excuse for not closing is the need to have those exams done - which cause stress, which causes lowered immunity.

Unfortunately bad decisions are often only found in hindsight.

The role of stress in this pandemic needs consideration and study!

That could be the reason some patients die, when others don't. We don't all have the same threshold for stress and that could explain the involvement of multiorgan failure in some patients, too.

This time of financial failures, job loss, home foreclosures, and strain on relationships requires a low to no cost stress reduction program for all families and places of employment. It would be good to have videos teaching that in the waiting rooms where patients wait for healthcare. Simple visualization exercises such as those I've taught in Lamaze classes would be appropriate in all circumstances.

Hmmmmmmmmm.......Have I dreamed up a new occupation?

indigo girl · Jun 22, 2009

6-year-old Ont. girl with swine flu dies

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Health/year+girl+with+swine+dies/1721463/story.html

The fact that they called a press conference because of this death indicates that they are troubled by it. They say that they don't know if there were any previous health problems, and obviously, the family did not notice any. She died at home. There will be an autopsy.

Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health said Monday that a six-year-old girl who had the H1N1 swine flu has died.
"I called this news conference today to announce the death of a six-year-old girl from Peel Region with the H1N1 flu virus," Dr. Arlene King said Monday. "The child had not been hospitalized and passed away on June 15. On June 19, laboratory testing confirmed the H1N1flu virus in this individual."
King cautioned health officials still can't say definitively what role the H1N1 virus played in the girl's death pending the outcome of an investigation by the office of the chief coroner.
"We are also investigating whether the child had any underlying medical conditions," King said.
She said parents at the girl's school have been advised of the death, but said the school the girl attended and other schools in the region will remain open.

lamazeteacher · Jun 22, 2009

Any time such a tragic thing as an unexpected death of a six year old occurs, the media need to come together for information, so the "whisper game" doesn't start. How awful for the parents. However I imagine the little girl was in her own bed, with her loving parents close by, thinking she was going to sleep..

indigo girl · Jun 23, 2009

State's only swine flu death still a mystery

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/23/masss_only_swine_flu_death_still_a_mystery/

The only person known to have died of swine flu in Massachusetts suffered from none of the underlying medical conditions that can turn a relatively mild viral infection into a life-threatening illness, city disease trackers disclosed yesterday.
The finding deepens the mystery around the June 14 death of a 30-year-old Boston woman who arrived at Boston Medical Center already gravely ill from symptoms associated with the respiratory disease, known by the scientific designation H1N1.
Investigators with the Boston Public Health Commission delved through medical records obtained from the woman's primary care physician, hunting for clues that might explain her precipitous decline.
But there was no evidence she had ever been diagnosed with asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or any other chronic malady known to intensify the risk of dying from a flu virus.
In patients with such persistent conditions, the flu virus can exacerbate the underlying disease - causing a lethal asthma attack, for instance - or exploit an already battered immune system.
The city's review will be shared with disease specialists at state and federal health agencies, providing another piece in the emerging portrait of a germ that has swept the globe in two months.
"H1N1 is a novel virus, and while we work to prevent severe illness and death, we are also gathering information to better understand the patterns associated with this virus,'' said Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the city health agency.
"It is known to us that otherwise absolutely healthy people have, in fact, unfortunately died from influenza. It is rare, but it does, in fact, happen.''
City health authorities said the woman's medical files indicated she had dealt with health issues, although none particularly unusual for a person of her age.
Officials declined to identify the woman or to provide further details of her medical history, citing patient confidentiality laws.
Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the vast majority of the 87 swine flu deaths in the nation have been reported in adults and children with existing medical problems.
But Dr. David Ozonoff, a Boston University School of Public Health professor who presides over an online flu encyclopedia, highlighted World Health Organization estimates that between one-third and one-half of swine flu fatalities were among those otherwise healthy before they were stricken with the virus.
More than 21,000 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in the United States, with nearly 1,300 in Massachusetts. That is regarded as only a small fraction of the total. Most cases are mild and not reported.
Overwhelmingly, the germ has proved most troublesome to younger adults and children, unlike the seasonal flu, which disproportionately harms the aged. That, Ozonoff said, suggests that the immune systems of the young are like blank slates, with no memory of how to respond to viruses from the family that includes swine flu.
It has been several decades since an H1N1 flu strain circulated widely.
"They're sort of defenseless,'' Ozonoff said. "And it's possible it may be more severe in this younger group because there's not the kind of immune reaction to it'' that might happen with the more familiar seasonal strains that have circulated in recent years, he said.
Disease researchers know that even with the seasonal flu, healthy people can be felled by the virus. An irreversible cascade of illness can be unleashed, with secondary pneumonia infections proving deadly.
"More times than not, people with pneumonia can experience severe respiratory distress,'' the CDC's Skinner said. "And it gets to the point that they're unable to overcome the secondary infections that accompany severe cases of influenza.''
The health commission's Ferrer said disease detectives from Boston to Atlanta, home of the CDC, will continue to scour the medical records of the Boston woman, searching for overlooked clues that might explain the behavior of the virus.
Maybe, Ferrer said, there is something in the Boston woman's medical background that mirrors the health history of other patients killed by swine flu, even though they harbored none of the recognized risk factors.
"We need to make sure we're not missing any pieces here,'' Ferrer said.

(hat tip PFI/Monotreme)

indigo girl · Jun 24, 2009

Any time such a tragic thing as an unexpected death of a six year old occurs, the media need to come together for information, so the "whisper game" doesn't start. How awful for the parents. However I imagine the little girl was in her own bed, with her loving parents close by, thinking she was going to sleep..

A very difficult story to read of the death of a child in Brampton, Canada.

This is the same six year old child that we knew about. It appears that she did not die at home. She was seen by health care providers twice before dying in their car.

I cannot even imagine how painful this must have been for her parents.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/499643

Within minutes, six-year-old Rubjit Thindal went from happily chatting in the back seat of the car to collapsing and dying in her father's arms.
"If we had known it was so serious, we would have called 911,'' Kuldip Thindal, Rubjit's distraught mother, said in Punjabi yesterday. "She just had a stomach ache -- she wasn't even crying.''
Rubjit was pronounced dead at hospital barely 24 hours after showing signs of a fever. Later, doctors told her parents she had the H1N1 influenza virus. She is believed to be the youngest person in Canada with the virus to have died.

(flutrackers/theforeigner)

indigo girl · Jun 24, 2009

Oregon

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/oregons_second_swine_flu_death.html

Kids do not normally die of flu near the end of June, and we are not seeing people over 65 years old dying from H1N1.

Just pointing out the obvious here in response to this somewhat dismissive report.

Oregon health authorities have confirmed the state's second known death -- in a young Marion County child -- from the new H1N1 influenza virus, also known as swine flu.
The child, identified only as "younger than 5 years old," died June 15, and infection with the swine flu virus was confirmed by the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory Tuesday. The child had "no known underlying medical conditions and a two-day history of fever," and was not hospitalized, officials said.
The Oregon Department of Human Services posted the information online but did not send out a formal news release. "We're in this quandary," said DHS spokesman Jim Sellers. "We have 400 deaths a year from seasonal flu in Oregon, and we don't want to alarm people."

(hat tip flutrackers/skatman)

RedWeasel, RN · Jun 25, 2009

Things appear to be getting stickier. I just wonder how much longer they are going to try to placate the public with "don't worry, unless you have health problems you will be fine." We aren't stupid. We realize they are trying not to panic the population, but at what cost. People will go about their days not worrying ENOUGH about it till it is too late. Even my mom and brother this past week kept trying to blow it off. Their temps came and went over 3 days. I never saw a chest become so loose, moist and productive SO fast-within 6 hours of the first sign of sore throat. What I don't understand is why I haven't gotten it yet. I mean I have been around them alot. They got it within hours of each other-do NOT underestimate this thing. I was shoving mucinex at them round the clock when their sinuses were blocked and when they were trying to get the gunk out of their chests. Sure I don't know they had it but they had every symptom. They wanted to brush it away as a cold. I told my mom have you ever seen me get a cough that loose so quickly? She had always kept me updated as a child to my coughs! "Wow, it is a pretty harsh cough-but it will loosen and you will get that gunk out eventually--then 3 days later--"wow your cough is really loosening up--you will get that stuff moving out." This hit hard and fast and we have to prepare. Or you will find yourself at home without soup, medicine, or popsicles! I stocked up expecting to be next and I am still waiting. Sorry to digress. Just thought I would add in their experiences. I never saw my mom so miserable. She is usually a martyr, but she was saying, "oh GOd!" and when she slept it was almost agonal breathing. Thank goodness she has had the pneumovax shot-maybe it helped because she is starting to feel better. :nurse:I stayed in the room with her for fear it could turn on a dime. She refused to go to a Dr but I had the phone next to me to dial 911 if needed.

indigo girl · Jun 26, 2009

Oregon

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/25/content_11596349.htm

Public health authorities in the U.S. state of Oregon have confirmed that a young child recently died from the A/H1N1 flu, the second such death in the state, local media reported on Wednesday.
The child, who had no known underlying medical conditions and a two-day history of fever, passed away on June 15, The Oregonian newspaper said.
The case was confirmed Tuesday by the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory.

indigo girl · Jun 26, 2009

Chicago

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1641064,swine62609.article

Two more deaths announced, one of which had no prior health problems. Forty seven is still a young age to be dying of flu.

A 54-year-old woman was hospitalized June 2 and died June 10. A 47-year-old woman was hospitalized June 20 and died June 23.
The older woman had other known medical problems, but the younger woman didn’t.
Chicago has seen more than 1,000 diagnosed cases of swine flu. Health officials say there are probably many more undiagnosed cases.