Deaths of Students, School Nurses and Teachers Once the Schools Re-opened

[indigo girl]

Memphis, Tn

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/sep/03/nashville-boys-swine-flu-death-puts-parents-alert/

The death of a 5-year-old Nashville boy who had the H1N1 virus has put parents on alert to look for the slightest signs that their child might be sick.

Max Gomez, who was a student at Henry Maxwell Elementary School in Antioch, became ill Friday and was admitted to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt on Monday. He died the same day. The state testing lab confirmed Wednesday that the boy had the H1N1 virus.

An initial autopsy did not indicate other health problems, though results will not be final for another 60 days.

[indigo girl]

DeSoto County, Mississippi

http://www.desototimes.com/articles/2010/01/25/news/local/doc4b5e54dab1e89618878333.txt

A spokesperson at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center said a 14-year-old Mid- South girl has died from complications associated with the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.

Due to privacy reasons, the name of the student and her address were not released.

"I can confirm we did have a 14-year-old female who died from complications associated with the H1N1 virus," Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center spokesperson Jennilyn Utkov said Monday afternoon.

(hat tip pfi/homebody)

[indigo girl]

Somerset, Kentucky

http://www.kentucky.com/964/story/1111330.html

This child survived.

The H1N1 flu virus that hit Maddy so hard "wasn't even really on my radar," her mom said. She'd told her kids to keep their hands washed and had bought some hand sanitizer. But she didn't get them vaccinated. It didn't seem necessary, she said.

At first, doctors thought Maddy might have meningitis, but they quickly determined she had the flu.

"I was just ballistic, just going crazy," said Edith, the more talkative of Maddy's parents. "I couldn't figure out why my baby was doing this with her being so healthy besides allergies.

"I was just numb."

Things kept getting worse. Maddy developed staph pneumonia. That's what affected her lungs and heart so severely that she had to be resuscitated. After that, she spent three weeks sedated and on a ventilator.

"We were really worried daily about whether she was going to make it," said Bernard, the physician. "It's very rare to have a child recover from having her heart stop."

(hat tip pfi/aurora)

[indigo girl]

Shelby County, Tennessee

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11888357

"Le Bonheur Children's confirms the death of a 12-year-old male resulting from complications of H1N1," a hospital spokesperson said in a written statement. "This is the fifth H1N1 death at Le Bonheur since we began tracking in September 2009."

It is the second time this week the hospital has announced a death from the virus. Le Bonheur confirmed the death of a 14-year-old patient from the virus Monday.

In a news conference Tuesday, Dr. Keith English, one of Le Bonheur's leading pediatricians, said there is no reason to be alarmed, but he does not want people to think the H1N1 threat is over.

(hat tip pfi/aurora)

[indigo girl]

spike in severe h1n1 in memphis tennessee children

http://www.recombinomics.com/news/01271004/h1n1_tn_icu.html

dr. henry niman of recominomics has some interesting comments about the cases in tennessee. i don't know if he is correct or not. only time will tell, as the pandemic continues.

doctors at le bonheur children's medical center are on high alert tonight after a spike in the number of children with flu-like symptoms. right now, they believe all cases to be the novel h1n1 swine flu virus.

"over the past 3 weeks or so, we've had about 17 or 18 admissions to le bonheur with confirmed influenza. i should say that we believe all or almost all of these will prove to be the novel h1n1 influenza virus."

infectious disease doctors believe its the only virus circulating in significant amounts in the community right now.

"i think 7 of the 17 or 18 have been admitted to the icu. so that's a bit of a shift of what we saw before."

the above comments describe an increase in severe h1n1 cases in children in tennessee. the children’s medical center (see map) had seen high numbers of patients in the fall, which led to the use of tents to cover the overload. the current spike is well below earlier levels, but the frequency of cases admitted to the icu is higher.

the increase in severe cases represents the concerns linked to the h1n1 evolution and increased reports of d225g/n, which have been tightly associated with severe and fatal cases. in the fall, the number of exposed to h1n1 was high, leading to protective immunity and a sharp decline in cases. however, there current is virtually no seasonal influenza a in circulation in the united states, but the traditional flu season is beginning, which will likely lead to emergence of a new swine h1n1 strain. mill hill has reported a ukraine isolate with d225g as a low reactor, raising concerns that immunity generated bu infection with wild type h1n1 or protection from the h1n1 killed vaccine will select for d225g/n variants, leading to a higher frequency of severe or fatal cases.

consequently, the increase of icu cases in tennessee children is cause for concern.

[indigo girl]

Las Vegas, Nevada

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lvrj/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=134831925

Jonathan Franklin Woodbury, a native of Las Vegas, passed away Oct. 18, 2009, at the tender age of 30, from complications related to pneumonia and the flu. He was born June 26, 1979, and was a lifelong resident of Las Vegas. Jonathan was a graduate of Green Valley High School and received his bachelors' degree in psychology with a minor in counseling from UNLV 2005. He worked in the mental health field until he went back to school at Touro University Nevada and had just completed his first semester to become a physicians' assistant.

(hat tip pfi/aurora)

[indigo girl]

Albany, New York

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=adacf3d1c27fa2ae9604bd56bfb31c59

Within 72 hours after contracting H1N1 virus last fall, 7-year-old Trevor Ron Lin took his last breath. Months later, the intense pain of losing a loved one remains for his family. "Believe me, you don't want to ever walk in my shoes," said Dr. Henry Lin, Trevor's father. "I am living every parent's worst nightmare."

Lin is an accomplished surgeon and a member of several professional medical associations. He said he was at his home in Albany, N.Y., back from a medical assignment in order to spend time with his wife and three children in time for Halloween and happy to go trick-or-treating with them. His eldest daughter, Ashley, age 11, came down with a cough and flu symptoms, but she recovered fairly quickly. Trevor's symptoms seemed serious enough to warrant a trip to the hospital, but there was no Tamiflu available for Trevor. He didn't exhibit any co-morbidities and he simply was not considered a high-risk patient by the hospital staff. He was released. None of Lin's children had been vaccinated for H1N1.

Lin shared the chronology of Trevor's death with an audience gathered on Jan. 13 at The Family Room, a day-care center not far off Capitol Hill, to mark National Influenza Vaccination Week, Jan. 10-16. He was joined by Dr. Bruce Gellin, deputy assistant secretary for health and director, National Vaccine Program Office, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and representatives from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Present also was Luke Duvall, an outstanding high school athlete from Arkansas, who had almost lost his life to H1N1. Duvall, whose near-fatal experience was reported by "60 Minutes," said, "I wouldn't recommend taking my path to get on TV."

(hat tip flutrackers/RoRo)

[indigo girl]

Monroe, Iowa

http://www.newtondailynews.com/articles/2010/02/24/r_cdiotin4tygqpluia_nrca/index.xml

It seems crazy to me that her doctors did not suspect swine flu considering that

she had s/s of ILI in a pandemic while pregnant. How could they not suspect it?

And, she teaches school for heaven's sake!

The Johnson's ordeal began when Jessica, who teaches first grade at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, was feeling under the weather in October 2009. She first showed common cold symptoms but couldn't shake it, so she went to visit her doctor, who first believed it was bronchitis.

"That first week it started it was just a cold with flu-like symptoms, high temperature and the chills," she said. "I thought I was getting better, but by the end of that week I could barely get up."

Her symptoms worsened, and on Oct. 31, Jessica was admitted to Skiff Medical Center because she was having trouble breathing. Her oxygen level continued to worsen and, due to her pregnancy, the mother-to-be was transported to Iowa Methodist Medical Center at 10 o'clock that night by ambulance.

At Methodist, her condition continued to worsen and she was quickly moved to the critical care unit, which is one of the last things Jessica remembers. Adam said the doctors began acting quickly and Jessica was put on a ventilator to help her breathe, family was called in and prayer requests went out across Jasper County.

(hat tip pfi/pixie)