Officials: Houston-area patient with ‘mystery illness’ diagnosed with H1N1
by Jeremy Desel / KHOU 11 News
Posted on December 18, 2013 at 5:23 PM
http://www.kens5.com/news/texas-news/Health-officials-Conroe-patient-with-mystery-illness-diagnosed-with-H1N1—236461641.html
HOUSTON – At least one Exclamation of the eight patients being treated for a mysterious illness at Conroe Regional Medical Center has tested positive for H1N1, according to Montgomery County health officials.
It’s the same strain of H1N1 that caused a pandemic in 2009. Doctors have been seeing hundreds of new cases recently in Texas and nationwide. In fact, H1N1 is one of the viruses included in this year’s flu shot.
The patient diagnosed with H1N1 is still alive. Two other surviving Conroe patients tested negative for H1N1. The results are still pending for one patient.
“So what we’re doing now is we’re retesting those patients who tested negative from the private lab,” Montgomery County Medical Director Dr. Mark Escott said. “And those samples will be sent to the state and the CDC for confirmation testing.” {WHEN? In 2014 or in 2015???}
Four of the patients treated for the mystery illness in Conroe have died.
The illnesses started with flu-like symptoms, then progressed to pneumonia and, in some cases, organ failure. They all initially tested negative for the flu.
Other area hospitals are looking at a possible connection to similar cases they’ve seen.
“Right now in Houston, there are two outbreaks of respiratory illness and both can cause death,” said Dr. Pedro Piedra, an internationally known flu researcher at Baylor College of Medicine.
One of those illnesses is the flu. The other is flu-like.
“Deaths will always occur with influenza. Sometimes more and sometimes less,” Dr. Piedra said.
Just because adults test negative for the flu, doesn’t mean they don’t have it.
“You can have influenza infection and not be able to detect it,” Dr. Piedra explained. “Our rapid test that we use to say whether it is flu or RSV is not so good in adults.”
That’s because adults normally have lower levels of the virus even when they are sick. {not patients in ICU or who are dead…}
The lack of answers has the public worried.
“Wow, that is scary,” said Janelle Cude, who lives in Conroe.
“I think that there is something going on that they are not telling people,” said Laura Bentoe, also a Conroe resident.
Montgomery County health officials will only tell us the victims are between the ages of 41 and 62.
“I just wonder if they are related, do they work together? What do they have in common? They haven’t mentioned any of that,” Bentoe asked.
Health officials can’t answer those questions because they are barred by federal health privacy laws.
"Flu-like" could be anything from an upset tummy to the plague or worse. Not very comforting.