Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

Family member disputes claim 9-year-old boy had asthma

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/S...oy-Family.html

The family sounds like they were attentive. Is it really possible that no one noticed asthmatic symptoms before he came down with influenza? I am finding this very difficult to believe. The doctor or his stafff would have had to educate the family about this when the child was seen the first time.

And the comment about the child not being contagious when he attended school may or may not be true. You can be contagious prior to showing symptoms with influenza so it depends on when he started to show s/s. Kids also shed virus longer than adults do after recovery. Much longer according to research, which becomes a real problem for spreading infection if we send them back to school too soon.

Originally Posted by www.nbcmiami.com

Family members of the only swine flu fatality in the state said the child was a “healthy boy” and that the family was unaware the boy suffered from asthma.

Luis Alexandro Munoz, 9, died on June 9 from complications caused by the H1N1 virus, Health Department officials announced Tuesday. Health officials have been secretive about the identity of the child and the circumstances surrounding the death.
The family did not learn about Munoz’s asthma condition until the Health Department’s releases statement on the death on Tuesday, a week after the boy’s death, his uncle said Thursday.

But Claudio Munoz said the family took Munoz to the hospital after he fell ill just days before he died. The family thought the child had bronchitis, but a family doctor who examined Munoz sent him back home with some medication. Once back home, Munoz’s condition worsened rapidly and the family rushed the boy to the emergency room at Baptist Hospital, where he died less than 24 hours later.

Miami-Dade Health Department and School Board officials have declined to comment on the issue.
In the press release announcing the state’s first swine flu death, the Heath Department does state “the child was not contagious when he attended the school,” but does not name the school.

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

Oak Forest 8-year-old dies from swine flu

http://www.southtownstar.com/news/16...9swine.article

Originally Posted by www.southtownstar.com

Last Friday an 8-year-old boy from Oak Forest was being checked into a local hospital. Just one day later, Saturday, he was dead from the H1N1 virus or swine flu, Cook County health officials announced Wednesday.

The boy had no underlying health conditions besides the virus, officials said, but the agency is awaiting results from an autopsy to be sure.

The death of the boy marks the eighth in the state, including two people last week who lived in Chicago.
County health officials declined to release further information on the boy, citing privacy concerns.

"This tragic death underscores the need for people to remain vigilant in preventing the spread of illness," said Stephen A. Martin Jr., chief operating officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health.

A 26-year-old woman with no other known health problems died June 9 after being in a Chicago hospital for a week.

(hat tip flutrackers/jenniferSmiles)

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

Indigo,

I'll just put here what you could read in the news article, that way no privacy issues

It was definitely swine flu, he was vacationing in Mexico and became symptomatic shortly after returning home. He was one of those people who went to the doctor for check ups, didn't smoke, didn't drink, etc.

Honestly, having it happen at my hospital just drove home the point for me that people may not be taking this as seriously as they should. It quit being something that happened somewhere else, know what I mean?

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

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?

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

Buffalo, New York

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/Buffalo..._died_20090620

Originally Posted by www.wivb.com

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

Originally Posted by www.wkbw.com

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.

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

Originally Posted by multicollinearity

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........

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

Originally Posted by silvergirl

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......

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

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?

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

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

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Healt...463/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.

Originally Posted by www.montrealgazette.com

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.

Re: No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

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..