No Prior Existing Conditions but Dead Anyway

[indigo girl]

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/48007842.html

Who would think that a normally healthy woman would die so swiftly from influenza in June?

Could you ever have imagined such a thing? No wonder her family and friends are in shock.

So why did it happen?

Barbara Davis, 48, was healthy just a week ago. She had dinner with her mother Josephine last Friday night. But just hours after that dinner, Josephine got a phone call.

"My friend, he called me and told me Barbara was real sick. And I said, "Well, she wasn't sick when I left, so what's the matter?" Josephine Davis said.

Barbara told her mother that she was ok. But the next day, things got worse. She had trouble breathing, and she was shaking. She could barely walk into the hospital.

"She tried to talk to people, but she just couldn't talk," Josephine Davis said.

Doctors treated her for two days, but they couldn't save her. They believe she died from swine flu.

"They've never seen nothing like that, what she had. That infection just went through her body, attacking her kidney, her lungs, her liver. Everything," said Josephine Davis.

The Milwaukee Health Department confirmed on Friday a Milwaukee adult with no underlying medical conditions died from swine flu, though they haven't confirmed Barbara Davis was that victim.

Barbara's family knows all too well how serious swine flu can be.

"Everybody is just in a shock. The people that I talked to today, they are frightened. Because it happened all of a sudden," Josephine Davis said.

More than 1,800 people have caught swine flu in Milwaukee alone. The city's Health Department is stressing that if you are mildly ill with flu symptoms, you should call your doctor. If your symptoms are serious or if you have mild symptoms that are getting worse, you should see a doctor right away.

http://www.wisn.com/health/19751526/detail.html

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner said 48-year-old Barbara Davis died Thursday in the ICU after being diagnosed with the flu strain.

The health department said, unlike Milwaukee's first swine flu victim, Davis did not have any "underlying medical conditions" that would have put her at a greater risk for the disease.

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=248304&postcount=7

This post was written by Dr. Gratten Woodsen, MD commenting over at flutrackers on this unfortunate woman's case.

The decedent is described as having fulminate multi-organ failure that developed rapidly resulting in death 48 hours after onset and despite intensive medical therapy in an ICU including all the bells and whistles.

The attending physicians told the mother that they had never seen anything like this before and I believe them. So did she. No one has seen anything like this since 1918. In 1918 many doctors said the say thing after dealing with their first cases of Spanish Flu and for them too it was a great surprise at least until those that didn't die from the virus themselves had seen it so many times that it was no longer unique.

There are numerous descriptions from the 1918 pandemic that match the one above but no where else in medical history do we find anything remotely similar. This is why the doctors in Milwaukee were so shocked by what they saw.

How many other North American victims had similar pathology? Why have the autopsy and clinical findings from the deaths in Mexico, the US and Canada been suppressed?

I know from press reports that there have been other US deaths where multi-organ failure was present. Is this common among those who have died of Swine Flu or rare? Are the findings similar to those seen in 1918 or not?

(hat tip flutrackers/skatman)

[morte, LPN, LVN]

An excellent question which was also asked by someone at this link. His question is in the comments below the commentary. It is comment #18, I believe.

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/09/transmitting_swine_flu_by_talk.php

not the aspect i was thinking of.....i was refering to the apparent IgG2 def. in a fairly large % of the fatals in Oz, those w/o underlying conditions

[indigo girl]

not the aspect i was thinking of.....i was refering to the apparent IgG2 def. in a fairly large % of the fatals in Oz, those w/o underlying conditions

I'm sorry morte, you got me on that one. Perhaps you could query Dr. Racaniello directly at Virology Blog. If if anyone would know, it would be him.

http://www.virology.ws/

I would be interested in the answer as well.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

I'm sorry morte, you got me on that one. Perhaps you could query Dr. Racaniello directly at Virology Blog. If if anyone would know, it would be him.

http://www.virology.ws/

I would be interested in the answer as well.

asked, now we wait...didnt see any other place than the comment section.....he has responded to other questions, we shall see

[indigo girl]

Somerset, Kentucky

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/981131.html

he Lake Cumberland region has recorded its first death blamed on the H1N1 flu virus. The death on Thursday of a 28-year-old man is the eighth confirmed in Kentucky.

The man died at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset. Health officials did not release his name or details about his hospitalization.

The man had no apparent underlying medical conditions, according to a news release from Lake Cumberland District Health Department.

(hat tip pfi/monotreme}

[MassED, BSN, RN]

flutrackers.com? Is this a reliable source or just a forum of people adding to widespread alarm??

[indigo girl]

Edmond, Oklahoma

I think that they are saying this child was on ECMO without really saying it...

http://www.newsok.com/article/3409854?searched=Tony%20Estlinbaum%20&custom_click=search

After lying in a hospital bed for weeks recovering from swine flu, 10-year-old Tony Estlinbaum was ready to try standing without help Friday.

Tony was a healthy boy with no history of asthma or other medical conditions, but he had severe complications with his lungs because of H1N1, McMichael said.

Estlinbaum said he wants to draw attention to Tony's case so parents will take the flu seriously, especially if their children have problems breathing along with flu symptoms. He said Tony felt fine Sept. 12 when he played in his first tackle football game, but had a headache that evening. On Sept. 13, he had some flu-like symptoms and trouble breathing. After a visit to the emergency room, Tony ended up at The Children's Hospital at OU Medical Center with a collapsed lung.

"That's when the battle truly started," Estlinbaum said.

Doctors eventually put Tony into a medically induced coma and on a respiratory support system that provides oxygen to patients whose heart and lungs are damaged. Now, the therapy Tony will do at The Children's Center will help clear his lungs further and help him to work toward full recovery, McMichael said.

(hat tip pfi/pixie)

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

It seems to me that the virus has already mutated from the form it took in the spring. Has the CDC looked into that?

[indigo girl]

Kitsap County, Washington

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/oct/19/first-kitsap-county-swine-flu-fatality-reported/

An otherwise healthy man in his 50s died late Sunday at Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton, according to Scott Daniels, deputy director of the Kitsap County Health District.

The man had been at the hospital for some time, and his death was confirmed by the state Department of Health as being caused by the swine flu.

He had no underlying health conditions.

(hat tip pfi/aurora)

[indigo girl]

Alice, Texas

http://www.caller.com/news/2009/oct/19/alice-man-dies-of-swine-flu/

Dr. Brian Smith, regional medical director for the Texas Department of State Health Services, had few details late Monday but was able to confirm the death of a 38-year-old man with the H1N1 virus.

Gilberto Garcia died Saturday of pneumonia and swine flu, his common-law wife, Marisol Rivera, said. She said he didn't have any known medical conditions that were a factor.

Garcia starting feeling sick with a fever, cough and sore throat on Oct. 4, Rivera said. Garcia checked into a hospital in Alice on Oct. 6 where he stayed for six days before being transferred to Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial, Rivera said.

(hat tip flutrackers/Roehl JC)

[indigo girl]

Clark County, Nevada

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=11349041

A 31-year-old woman has become the latest victim of the H1N1 virus in Southern Nevada. According to the Southern Nevada Health District, the woman didn't have any underlying medical conditions and died last week. She is the 12th Clark County resident to die.

(hat tip flutrackers/shiloh)

[indigo girl]

British Columbia

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091020/bc_healthy_h1n1_death_091020/20091020/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

The eighth fatal victim of the H1N1 flu in British Columbia was healthy, according to an update from the BC Centre for Disease Control Tuesday.

The latest data shows the 26-year-old Mission woman, whose death was originally announced last week, had no underlying and preexisting medical conditions. She is the first "healthy" person to die from H1N1 in the province.

The province's chief medical officer, Dr. Perry Kendall, said Friday the health authority expected some cases of H1N1 would occur in healthy people.

(hat tip flutrackers/pathfinder)

[lamazeteacher]

Hearing lots of rumors of people being reinfected, but these remain speculation until proven. It could well be something else.

That's the "Catch-22" of the situation: you need to get Tamiflu in the first 48 hours in which flu s/s exist, but the test for H1N1 won't likely turn positive until the 3rd or 4th day after onset. So the test isn't done, to have cost containment.

In my experiences (yes, there have been 2), I've needed antibiotics as well as the antiviral, as it very quickly settled into my lungs. I knew the 2nd round wouldn't likely be seasonal flu, as I'd had the vaccine for that 2 1/2 weeks before s/s appeared. Both illnesses were similar, with exquisitely painful pharyngitis along with fever, ha, and profound fatigue. I got Tamiflu within 48 hours each time, developed cough with expectoration of copious amounts of green sputum, comtimuimg into the 2nd week despite Zithromycin (Z pak).

So I intend to get the vaccine by injection (I'm over 65).