Posted on 06/24/2009 8:04:24 AM PDT by metmom
Within minutes, six-year-old Rubjit Thindal went from happily chatting in the back seat of the car to collapsing and dying in her father's arms.
"If we had known it was so serious, we would have called 911,'' Kuldip Thindal, Rubjit's distraught mother, said in Punjabi yesterday. "She just had a stomach ache -- she wasn't even crying.''
Rubjit was pronounced dead at hospital barely 24 hours after showing signs of a fever. Later, doctors told her parents she had the H1N1 influenza virus. She is believed to be the youngest person in Canada with the virus to have died.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.guelphmercury.com ...
Pennsylvania:
4 September 2009
First Case of Swine Flu Reported in Bloomsburg
http://bunow.bloomu.edu/6114-first-case-of-swine-flu-reported-in-bloomsburg/
The first recorded case of the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the swine flu, has been reported. On August 28, Dr. Robbie Soltz, wife of Bloomsburg University President David Soltz, became the first BU community resident to be diagnosed with the virus. Soltz most likely contracted the virus on a trip from Phoenix back to Philadelphia on August 23, according to an email sent to all faculty by the BU Communications office. This is believed to be the likeliest scenario as there has been no other reported cases in the areas surrounding Bloomsburg.
Soltz has been isolated in her home and under the care of Geisinger’s infectious disease control physician. Individuals who were in contact with Soltz prior to her diagnoses have showed no signs of having contracted the virus and are no longer in the high-risk group. President Soltz has not displayed any flu-like symptoms and is not considered infected. All individuals who were possibly at risk of contracting the disease have passed the incubation period which is said to be one to three days according to an interview with Andrew Pekosz, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University, by the Washington Post.
“’It’s been a nightmare’
Girl, 10, fought the swine flu virus”
Originally published 05:43 p.m., September 4, 2009
Updated 11:09 p.m., September 4, 2009
http://www.caller.com/news/2009/sep/04/girl-10-back-home-after-month-in-hospital-with/
“CORPUS CHRISTI — Kayla Piñon’s parents said they took precautions against the swine flu, or H1N1 virus.
Kayla’s mother, Melinda, disinfected the house regularly and told her daughter to wash her hands and avoid sick people.
Kayla, 10, carried hand sanitizer in her purse and often opened doors with a napkin.
“It still managed to get her,” her mother said.
Kayla returned home Wednesday after about a month at Driscoll Children’s Hospital. Kayla doesn’t remember much about that month. She was too ill.
Her parents only recently explained to her that she had swine flu.”...
..”Her family doesn’t know how the Dawson Elementary fifth-grader picked up the virus.
Kayla has been a healthy girl, a runner on the school’s cross country team and a former participant in the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon.
Kayla’s parents and her doctors consider her recovery to be a miracle, and some of the credit goes to a machine
that takes blood from the body, oxygenates it as your lungs normally would do, and then returns it to the body.
Within six to eight hours of Kayla being on a ventilator at the hospital, Dr. Karl Serrao told her parents she would die unless they used the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, Serrao said.
The machine allowed Kayla’s lungs to start healing, he said.
“The only thing between Kayla and death was that machine,” Serrao said.
Kayla also had a team of more than 20 medical professionals tending to her, Serrao said.
She was admitted at Driscoll Children’s Hospital on July 31 after having flu-like symptoms, shortness of breath, fatigue and headaches.
Her physician had diagnosed her with the flu earlier that week, but it wasn’t clear what type it was, her parents said. Kayla was taking Tamiflu, but she turned weak and tired. The doctor advised her parents to take her to the emergency room.
X-rays showed she had pneumonia, and mucus blocking a lower portion of her lungs, her father, Luis, said. “Things had gotten worse,” he said.
Within 48 hours the family found out she had H1N1 — and a drug-resistant staph infection in her lungs.
That combination can be deadly, Serrao said.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a summary Thursday finding that most typically healthy children, older than 5 years old who got H1N1, also had bacterial infections.
Serrao said the combination of H1N1 and infection could affect anyone, even if they’re normally healthy”...
..”For Kayla, the H1N1 caused her pneumonia and affected her immunity, he said. Her lungs were at risk of contracting the bacterial infection, he said”...
..”“It’s been a nightmare,” Kayla’s father said. “It’s something you want to wake up (from) and wish it’s not true.”
Kayla will do at-home respiratory treatment four times a day to break up mucus in her lungs.
She will continue the treatments for the staph infection for as long as a year, her father said.
Kayla, who plans to bake brownies for her team of doctors, will be home-schooled for at least a month to monitor her progress.
“She still has a long road ahead of her,” her mother said.”
Cases were being flagged as H5N1 and H1N1 possible co-infections, and also the cases at Washington UNI were mentioned in the same articles too.
H5N1 & H1N1 Co-infections that is the real danger ....
Could you post those article on this thread ? I have to leave now so I won’t be able to post until later .
Thanks Again , for the info :)
Are you referring to Washington State University in Pullman, WA? Over 2,000 reported ill at WSU but only 2 (two) even had to be examined at a hospital!
Thanks for the ping!
List of swine flu deaths in the UK
http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk/1.608388
05 September 2009
This list has been compiled from publicly reported deaths in UK newspapers. It does not include those swine flu deaths for which no details have been given.
14 June 2009 - First death - Jacqui Fleming, 38/39 died giving birth at Carnwadric, south Glasgow (UHPs*)
15 June 2009 - Jack Fleming, son of Jacqui, dies
29 June 2009 - man, 73, Paisley, Scotland (UHPs) - second Scottish death
30 June 2009 - Sameerah Ahmad, 6, Birmingham (UHPs)
30 June 2009 - Girl, 9 (family asked details to be private), Birmingham
3 July 2009 - Man, 19, South London. Serious UHPs (first to die in London)
5 July 2009 - Abdullah Patel, 42, Dewsbury, Yorks (UHPs - lung and kidney problems
6 July 2009 - Asmaa Hussain, Dewsbury, Yorkshire
9 July 2009 - Chloe Buckley, 6/7, West London (septic shock as a result of tonsilitis)
9 July 2009 - Dr Michael Day, Luton, 64 (UHPs - heart disease, high blood pressure, viral pnuemonia)
10 July 2009 - healthy man, Basildon, Essex
15 July 2009 - woman tourist visiting Inverness, Scotland (significant UHPs)
17 July 2009 - pregnant woman, 39, Whipps Cross, London. Baby in intensive care
17 July 2009 - Sky news reprots Death from swine flu of woman who had just given birth and Baby less than six months old (serious UHPs)
17 July 2009 - Woman, Ruptara Miah, 39, at Leytonstone (just given birth)
21 July 2009 - Girl, 15, Glasgow, Scotland (UHPs) - fourth scottish victim
22 July 2009 - no sex, age given. West Midlands
4 August 2009 - Soldier Lee Porter, Bisley, Surrey, 30 (no UHPs)
8th August 2009 - man, 26, Glasgow (fifth scottish death)
9th August 2009 - Madelynne Butcher, 18, Southampton
14th August 2009 - adult dies in Birmingham (UHPs)
21 August 2009 - woman, 55, Wales
22 August 2009 - woman, Northern Ireland
24 August 2009 - woman, 59, Islay, Argyll, Scotland (UHPs) - sixth scottish death
28th August 2009 - man, 52, Edinburgh; “significant UHPs” - seventh in Scotland
5 September 2009 - Boy, 7, Strood, Kent? - later said not to be swine flu
*UHPs - Underlying Health Problems; a glib phrase trotted out by medical professionals. At the moment they seem to range from viral pneumonia to being pregnant
Post 1,120 has a story link to the college in Washington.
Freeper bethybabes69 who lives in England was the one who wrote that in England she saw an article about Washington UNI .
Hi, Yes I’m just a few miles from Pullman, Washington where the 2000+ cases have been reported at WSU; the 2 hospital admissions as of yesterday is an accurate report. Today’s online edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News does not even have any stories about flu at the University from what I can see. One or two new cases in a nearby county. The strain of H1N1 in this part of the world seems to be very mild at this point.
Thanks
Fascinating subject the immune system. It is complex beyond belief. I don’t get how anyone can understand it or keep it straight, but thank God they do.
Fairbanks child dies of probable swine flu infection
Next person who says this is no different than the normal seasonal flu . . .
That was really interesting. I stopped at health food store yesterday to get some things but forgot the Resveratrol.
Also found the info on Elderberry interesting - Good for most flu but not bird flu.
Thanks again for finding all these for us!!
Brugmansian : I think this was most interesting from the article .....
“The new virus can cause much more serious infections in the lower respiratory tracts.”
((((((The study showed that many of the patients who became seriously ill had a low fever in the early stages of infection. The median time between the onset of illness and when the patients sought treatment at hospital was about five days. Their conditions deteriorated rapidly and they were place on ventilators a median of seven days after manifesting symptoms. The four patients who died did so a median of 10 days after the onset of infection. ))))))
Swine flu worse than seasonal infection
More healthy people being struck down
Ella Lee
Sep 05, 2009
Swine flu is more dangerous than seasonal flu because about 30 per cent of those who develop severe complications have had no underlying diseases, a leading microbiologist said yesterday.
University of Hong Kong microbiology department head Professor Yuen Kwok-yung said he believed that swine flu would cause more deaths in the city as it spread in the community.
Meanwhile, the Hospital Authority plans to tighten admission criteria for children to relieve pressure on public hospitals.
Hong Kong reported 370 new swine flu cases yesterday, involving people aged between six months and 76 years. This brings the total to 13,318.
The (A)H1N1 virus has killed 10 people in Hong Kong so far.
A total of 125 people are being treated in public hospitals, with 107 in stable condition, nine serious and nine critical.
Yuen’s team has analysed data relating to 22 serious cases, including four people who died. The study found that 29 per cent of those patients had a clean bill of health before they contracted swine flu.
“Swine flu is more dangerous than seasonal flu. While seasonal flu usually kills only those with chronic diseases, swine flu can strike healthy people and causes very severe complications,” Yuen said.
“The new virus can cause much more serious infections in the lower respiratory tracts.”
The study showed that many of the patients who became seriously ill had a low fever in the early stages of infection. The median time between the onset of illness and when the patients sought treatment at hospital was about five days. Their conditions deteriorated rapidly and they were place on ventilators a median of seven days after manifesting symptoms. The four patients who died did so a median of 10 days after the onset of infection.
“When those patients suffered breathing difficulties, their lungs were already severely damaged and Tamiflu was no longer effective on them,” Yuen said.
He advised doctors to use Tamiflu more promptly, especially for high-risk patients including young children, elderly people and those with chronic diseases.
He said public awareness about swine flu had gradually dropped since the outbreak began in May. “Many people have dropped their guard and are treating swine flu as seasonal flu. That is wrong,” he said.
The Hospital Authority, facing an increasing number of patients, is considering new treatment protocols. Apart from limiting laboratory tests to inpatients and those who do not respond well to antiviral treatment, the authority wants to tighten admission criteria for young children in a bid to make more beds available in public hospitals.
“The current admission criteria for young flu patients are rather loose,” one doctor familiar with the situation said.
He said the number of severe and fatal cases would continue to rise as more people were infected.
“While there are more virus carriers in the community, the chances of high-risk people becoming infected are getting higher,” he said. “Those with underlying diseases and pregnant women should avoid going to crowded places.”
University of Hong Kong microbiologist Professor Ho Pak-leung called on the authority to improve communications with the public and private doctors. He said many patients seeking help at government flu clinics expected laboratory tests and to be prescribed Tamiflu.
“In fact, the authority only provides those services to high-risk patients. The misunderstanding causes conflicts between patients and frontline staff. There should be clearer messages to the public on what they should do and where to turn to if they get flu symptoms,” Ho said.
According to the Centre for Health Protection, 16 schools reported swine flu outbreaks yesterday. Five schools have closed because of swine flu, including the Sha Tin Junior School, which closed yesterday.
Undersecretary for Food and Health Gabriel Leung said yesterday that the mortality rate for swine flu in Hong Kong was lower than in other countries. The number of schools that had closed was within government expectations.
More good info - thanks DvdMom.
http://fluboard.rhizalabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3673#p3673
Personal Account From GA health care worker
Well, public school started back about 4 weeks ago in our state, two weeks ago kids started filing into the hospital with flu-like symptoms, but I reported then that they were mostly mild (even the ones in the hospital.) Now, in the last two weeks, we are seeing the real victims beginning to come in. The young adults, and the slightly older adults.
We have seen an increasing number of young adults in intensive care... on ventilators, with flu-like symptoms. Some are confirmed, other results are pending. Not even a whole MONTH after the start of school, and it’s taking its toll.
The patient I took care of today, was not in the unit. I felt like I spent the entire day in that person’s room trying to ease their Severe Respiratory Distress. The pain (just from the flu) was abnormally severe... the body aches were having to be treated with pain meds... the nausea had to be treated with meds.
I have to tell you folks, that reality set in for me today.
This person was between 20-30 years old, and thank god was on Tamilfu AND Relenza. Oxygenation was an issue, and we progressed through several modes of increasing support throughout my twelve hour shift.
Nothing helped. By the time I left, the patient was headed for ICU, and a ventilator. Along with a couple of other previously healthy adults who are already in the unit on vents. This morning one of those patients was becoming increasingly more ill, and in need of High Frequency ventilation due to an inability to oxygenate.
School starts all over this country next week. We all better hang on, because we’re going to be in for a rough ride in the next few months.
It started with mildly sick little kids coming in, then progressed to VERY ill young men and women.
I spent my whole day in full isolation gear. It wasn’t easy (emotionally). But as a health care worker, I know, that no matter what, I will take whatever vaccine that anybody offers, so I can be there on the cutting edge of this battle to do my job in the coming months. They’ve cut back on so many skilled workers it’s pathetic. Our healthcare system is going to be put to the test, and hospital administrators all across this country are going to have to answer for their decisions to cut staff down to the bare minimum (even during a Pandemic.) Our Hospital has cut our Respiratory Care staff this past Summer, even after a Pandemic was declared.
Buses Will Be Wiped Clean To Contain Spread Of Flu
Posted: Sep 03, 2009 12:53 PM CST
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - More than 500 school buses are being wiped down and cleaned up just days after the first Nashville student died from the H1N1 influenza. A note went out to all bus drivers from the Metro Nashville Public Schools transportation manager, saying drivers need to wipe down and sanitize their buses. Drivers were provided sanitary wipes and instructed to clean the buses between the morning and afternoon runs and at the end of the day. The cleaning will become a daily part of drivers’ post trip procedures.
A 5-year-old child died from H1N1 flu on Monday. He was a student at Henry Maxwell Elementary School in Cane Ridge (Antioch). Metro health officials confirmed the boy died from H1N1, but urged the public not to panic. “I think with parents concerns can be raised in a situation like this but it’s important to remember its still the flu. The flu gets better on its own in most cases,” said Dr. Bill Paul, Director of Health of Nashville/Davidson County.
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=11042256
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