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)

[misswoosie]

hampshire, uk

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/4536361./

i believe that by transferring her for special equipment, it meant that she needed ecmo. glenfield hospital in leiscester is an ecmo provider.

another difficult photo to look at...

(hat tip pfi/pixie)

the exact cause of her death has yet to be established but madelynne had been diagnosed as having swine flu by southampton doctors and had been prescribed the drug tamiflu.

heavens-they aren't saying it was swine flu that killed her.remember the gp who died who had "no pre-existing conditions" but turned out he had had a massive pe and had a heart problem?

she has been in tenerife since june.there could be allsorts going on, not just swine flu.

i would love to know how many people that have died had beed treated with tamiflu.

a few weeks ago in the uk we were diagnosing swine flu over the phone and dishing out tamiflu like smarties!

[oramar]

I was thinking of doing the flu clinics also. They are going to need lots of help.

They are still battling it out at the IOM meeting going on in Washington about whether or not we should use surgical masks or N95.

I have to say that nobody has yet come up with solid reasons for why we are not using the N95. The excuse of saying that you can get the disease in the community is not a good reason to deny that level of protection at work.

There has been plenty of testimony that surgical masks were not designed to protect you. That is what the N95 does. And, just because staff don't want to use it, is not a good reason either.

I am getting very disgusted listening to some of what is being said. They will wrap up the meeting and make their recommendations for us this afternoon when they return from lunch. This will run until 5PM today.

Listen in if you can. They are deciding your fate, so to speak...

http://video.nationalacademies.org/ramgen/broadcast/live.rm

I have not heard anyone say that the HCWs that died got it at home. I do believe they all got it from a flu victim that was admitted.

[indigo girl]

Waimate, New Zealand

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/2805433/Swine-flu-patient-blinks-to-connect

It's just flu...

Timaru Hospital confirmed yesterday that the 43-year-old mother, in a serious but stable condition, was transferred to Auckland Hospital's intensive care unit on Tuesday night after having been in intensive care for nearly three weeks.

A source close to the patient said one lung had failed and only half of the second lung was functioning.

The mother of four was first taken to Timaru Hospital on Saturday, August 8 with flu-like illness and a high temperature. She was given antibiotics and discharged.

Later that day her partner rang for an ambulance and she was driven back in from Waimate.

Swine flu was confirmed and she was placed in intensive care. She is believed to have no underlying health problems.

"She has only just started responding to medication which has helped her blood circulation. She is now clear of swine flu but it has basically eaten away at her organs," the source said.

"She has been communicating by blinking. The family are hoping she will be getting a lung transplant."

South Canterbury District Health Board would not comment on the patient.

(hat tip flutrackers/gennief)

[indigo girl]

http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2009/08/28/danny-dempsey-survived-swine-flu-15-days-in-coma/

Actually, this is about someone who survived. Fooled you! He had no prior existing conditions to explain what happened to him. The article does not say whether or not he was given Tamiflu initially although his GP suspected swine flu, but did not test him as he was not in a high risk group.

It is nice to hear a story of survival in these random cases of severe infections in otherwise healthy people.

DANNY Dempsey spent 15 days in an induced coma in the intensive care unit of Mackay Base Hospital battling life-threatening swine flu complications. Unable to breathe alone the 48-year-old father of three was hooked up to a ventilator.

On Saturday, August 1, Danny travelled 700km from his home town of Malanda, near Atherton, via Cairns and Townsville hospitals in helicopters to Mackay Base Hospital because there were no vacant intensive care unit beds in North Queensland. Earlier that week he had begun to feel the onset of mild flu-like symptoms.

He visited his GP who suspected swine flu but no tests were taken because Danny didn't fall into any of the vulnerable category groups. After five days of bed rest Danny's condition began to worsen and on Friday night he was admitted to Atherton Hospital which marked the start of his 15 days in an induced coma.

Barbara said once it was confirmed Danny had swine flu, she couldn't accept the possibility that her husband of 25 years was not going to make it.

Danny said the past month had been a blur. “When I woke up from the coma I was in a daze,” he said.

“I had lost 13 kilograms and missed out on my birthday.

“At the moment I am focused on getting my strength back so I can be discharged and return home to see my children.”

Danny said his close call with death had made him realise how precious life was.

“I am deeply thankful to the staff at the Mackay Base Hospital for helping me recover. They have been excellent,” he said.

Reformatted.

(hat tip pfi/pixie)

[oramar]

http://www.dailymercury.com.au/story/2009/08/28/danny-dempsey-survived-swine-flu-15-days-in-coma/

Actually, this is about someone who survived. Fooled you! He had no prior existing conditions to explain what happened to him. The article does not say whether or not he was given Tamiflu initially although his GP suspected swine flu, but did not test him as he was not in a high risk group.

It is nice to hear a story of survival in these random cases of severe infections in otherwise healthy people.

Reformatted.

(hat tip pfi/pixie)

It just shows you we are not helpless. People that would have died 50 years ago can now make it if medical interventions are prompt and proper.

[indigo girl]

Scotsboro, Alabama

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/1251883031174920.xml&coll=1

Eleven-year-old Alex Garcia of Scottsboro led his soccer team to an 8-1 win Saturday in Huntsville.

But Alex, recalled by his family as a "nonstop" youngster who was a tough competitor on the soccer field, grew gravely ill over the weekend and died Monday morning.

State health officials said they suspect swine flu was the cause of his death, but they did not announce any test results for the novel H1N1 virus Tuesday. It was not immediately known if Alex had an underlying medical condition that might have contributed to the severity of his illness.

http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=11035936

WAFF 48 News has confirmed with Dr. Jim McVay of the Alabama Department of Public Health that 11-year-old Alex Garcia that died earlier this week tested positive for swine flu.

Alex died Monday morning at Highlands Medical Center after being hospitalized over the weekend.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/09/alabama_confirms_third_novel_h.html

Judy Smith, an administrator of public health with the department, said today she did not know of any other health problem that could have contributed to Garcia's death.

Jackson County Coroner John Jordan said Garcia's family has requested an autopsy. That will be performed by a private pathologist, Jordan said.

(news sources hat tip flutrackers)

[indigo girl]

Nashville, Tennessee

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

This child's two sisters also have flu symptoms but the family is being told that they do not have H1N1 although their brother just died from it. All I would say is that testing is not reliable. Look at the history here. Their sibliing just died of swine flu. Geez!

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.

(hat tip flutrackers/dutchy)

[nkochrn, RN]

Reading these stories is making me want to lock myself in my house and not come out until it's over! There has been an outbreak of flu in a school about 15 minutes from my house. Haven't seen it in our hospital yet, but we're preparing for it! Not sure if it's just in kansas, but the cases of flu that are being seen are not even being tested for H1N1 unless the patient is hospitalized. They are testing for Influenza A and B though.

[oramar]

It just shows you we are not helpless. People that would have died 50 years ago can now make it if medical interventions are prompt and proper.

I am commenting on an earlier comment of mine. Am just wondering if there will be a learning curve amount HCWs. If you are the 10th person that walks in ED with rapidly worsening symptoms, will you be more likely to survive than the first person that walked in the ED like that. Sometimes, ED nurses and docs have seen so many people with mild symptoms and have become so numb that by the time they see a bad one they may be a little slow picking up on it. However, that first case that doesn't seem so emergent and then 24 hours later they are dead will really put HCWs on alert. I just don't want to be that first case. I am not even saying that is going to happen but I am wondering if it is a possibility.

[indigo girl]

Israel

http://theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=38971

A 26-year-old male admitted to Beilinson Hospital, where he died of swine flu, did not have any underlying chronic medical condition. Prior to the flu, he was a healthy male.

He was diagnosed with the illness about 2 weeks ago and earlier this week, his condition deteriorated drastically, including a severe case of pneumonia. He was moved to an intensive care unit but doctors were unable to save him. He was niftar on Wednesday, becoming the 21st fatality in Israel.

[indigo girl]

Okinawa

http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=460091

A 24-year-old woman in Okinawa Prefecture who had the new strain of influenza but no underlying health problems died Tuesday, becoming the youngest victim in Japan so far linked with the epidemic, the health ministry said.

(hat tip pfi/monotreme)

[indigo girl]

Greece

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gzMOrZng4xDsFReU0Wt5IaZOVfFg

Greek authorities say a French tourist has died of swine flu - the country's second death from the virus.

A Health Ministry statement says the 29-year-old man had no other pre-existing conditions and suffered multi-organ failure in an Athens hospital Tuesday.

(hat tip pfi/monotreme)