5 Who Died Had Flu-Like Symptoms

Washington Post ^ | Saturday, February 22, 2003 | By Michael D. Shear and Maria Glod

[Pro-Bush]

RICHMOND, Feb. 21 -- Five children who died in southeast Virginia in the past week had no contact with each other and did not attend the same schools or take similar medicines, according to state health officials, who also dismissed bioterrorism as a cause of the mysterious deaths.

The five boys and girls -- from Richmond, Hampton, Virginia Beach, and Portsmouth -- had one thing in common before their unexpected deaths: an apparent viral infection that caused flu-like symptoms, including sore throat, wheezing, coughing, ear infections, and low-grade fevers

[Pro-Bush]

Nothing is coincidental in Southeast Va.

[happygrl]

I lived in Hampton at one time.

For those who don't know, this is a center of military bases: Air Force, Army and Navy, and also the shipyards which build the naval fleet are located there.

Five children dead from a virus is very alarming. One of the early indicators of deadly flu is high mortality in the young and old.

This could be flu or something else (!)

Has the CDC been called in ?

[11B3]

"Officials said they "could not rule out anything," but stressed that they do not believe the deaths were caused by a biological attack. Out of 100 possible explanations, one state doctor said, bioterrorism would be the 101st reason he would examine."

With the current state of the health care system - being extremely liberal - and mostly refusing to even take their smallpox vax - I'd say that this statement shows just how far into denial that they are. Like West Nile Virus "just happened" to get to the US. Yeah, right.

[JimSEA]

Is there any similarity between this and the virus in South China which recently took several lives?

[TheLurkerX]

Back in November a similar "flu" killed 3 or 4 E. Texas woman who didn't seem deathly ill. They just took a turn for the worse and died of respiratory or cardiac failure. I believe one was 17 and 2 were in their early 40's.

[Captain Beyond]

Hopefully no one has seen a Spanish Lady or a version of.

[EGPWS]

Five children who died in southeast Virginia in the past week had no contact with each other and did not attend the same schools or take similar medicines, according to state health officials, who also dismissed bioterrorism as a cause of the mysterious deaths.

Just what is there in this statement that would convince anybody that bioterrorism is ruled out? No tin foil here just curiosity.

[ecru]

if some sort of freakish new flu were to appear, can't they make a vaccine like they do every year of the most popular ones and vaccinate people?

[Pro-Bush]

Exactly...Obviously you know where my thoughts are, lets see where this goes. With the mytsterious illnesses from hospital workers in S.F. to the Cruise line mystery illnesses, to the more powerful West Nile strains cropping up a few months back...Is this whats next? Something is up...

[null and void]

This could be flu or something else (!)

Ricin?

[Pro-Bush]

Lets hope not..but plausable. EEEK!

[null and void]

Color me paranoid...

[Robert_Paulson2]

does follow what I have heard of the ricin etiology...

---

if it were a bio attack... who would we KNOW to nuke and in what order?
not panicked at all, I just wonder... do we have an approved target list?
and do the TARGETS know who they would be?

[Pro-Bush]

The Guardian out of UK reports:

Ricin is 500 times stronger than cobra venom and 1,500 times more deadly than cyanide. The equivalent of a grain of salt would be enough to kill an adult, and a fatal dose takes around three days to kill the person affected.

Ricin-related symptoms include fever and nausea, which progresses to severe abdominal pains and fits. Victims die from multiple organ failure and there is no known antidote or vaccine.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukresponse/story/0,11017,870875,00.html

Sounds like Flu symptoms to me..But no reports of multiple organ failure YET with the deaths in VA.

[justa-hairyape]

There was/is a very nasty flu that has been travelling around southern california for the past three months. I did not catch it until a coworkers son repeatedly coughed on me. I was able to beat the extreme bed riden flu-like symptoms in just two days, but the after effects and a sore throat have linkered on for 2 weeks now. I have talked to a few other people who have had it. During the 2 week or longer recovery phase, you wake up every morning with a sore throat. One of my coworkers actually had it turn into pnemonia. I can see where this long lingering flu can turn deadly for some.

[EnquiringMind]

"Out of 100 possible explanations, one state doctor said,
bioterrorism would be the 101st reason he would examine."

If this doctor keeps bioterrorism out of the realm of possibility, I sure hope somebody else is in charge.

[null and void]

If this doctor keeps bioterrorism out of the realm of possibility, I sure hope somebody else is in charge.

Someone is. Unfortunately he is in Iraq...

[happygrl]

There was a recent outbreak of SOMETHING in Asia recently - was it Singapore, Indonesia, or Malyasia - and children was dying also. NOT in a less developed area, but one where good medical care is available.

I am very suspicious of the Norfolk outbreak on Cruise ships.

Those ships have been sailing for years without these types of illnesses REPEATEDLY on DIFFERENT ships.

Anything that could affect morale in our servicepeople as they deploy would be significant.

There is something about this mortality that does not seem reasonable. These kinds of deaths are more typical of meningitus than a mere respiratory illness.

[per loin]

A leading virologist who heads one of the World Health Organisation's
influenza centres says a failure by mainland officials to provide
sufficient information on the latest bird flu outbreak could hamper
efforts to control any potential epidemic.

Masato Tashiro, director of the WHO's collaborating centre for influenza
in Tokyo, told the South China Morning Post he was unhappy with the way
mainland officials were handling both the bird flu incidents in Fujian and
the recent pneumonia outbreak in Guangdong.


"Controlling an influenza epidemic is a global matter. But we do not have
much information despite repeated inquiries to the Ministry of Health. We
are worried that it is a beginning of an epidemic," he said.


The Tokyo centre is one of the four WHO collaborating offices for
influenza. The other three are in London, Atlanta and Melbourne.


"It is crucial that we know about the transmission route of the virus -
where and when the Hong Kong man and his son caught the virus," Dr Tashiro
said.


Speaking from Tokyo yesterday, he added that the WHO and international
scientists should press harder for an opportunity to join the
investigation in China.


Hong Kong's Department of Health confirmed earlier this week that a
33-year-old Hong Kong man, who died on Monday, and his nine-year-old son
became the first humans infected with H5N1 since 1997.


Moves were stepped up yesterday to test relatives of the man and his son
in Pingtan, Fujian province, where the family gathered for the Lunar New
Year.


Dr Tashiro said he was concerned about whether there was any link among
bird flu incidents in Hong Kong farms and parks recently and the Guangdong
pneumonia outbreak.


The WHO has activated the global flu response plan for the first time
since 1997, when six out of 18 people infected died of a bird flu strain
previously not seen in humans.


Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong said yesterday:
"There is no immediate risk of any pandemic and we are on top of the
problem."

http://www.scmp.com/topnews/ZZZ6A4NA3CD.html