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Update on Hospital Lockdown/Smallpox Scare
Florida News-Press ^ | Oct. 23, 2002 updated: 2:45 am EDT | Sharon Turco

Posted on 10/23/2002 9:21:24 AM PDT by FairOpinion

Smallpox-like symptoms on a woman brought into Cape Coral Hospital on Tuesday prompted the lockdown of two emergency rooms and a fire department and sent health officials scrambling to diagnose the ailment.

“At first, smallpox was one of the diseases under consideration,” said Dr. Judith Hartner, director of the Lee County Health Department. “We determined it is a very, very low possibility, but it has not been ruled out.”

Hartner said it would take several days to medically discount smallpox as the cause of the patient’s symptoms.

Cultures were taken and sent off to a lab. It will take about 24 hours to get back the results, said Jeff Doucette, the hospital system’s director for emergency services.

“We don’t know exactly what she has, but her symptoms are consistent with an infectious disease,” Hartner said.

Besides smallpox, doctors are looking at a long list of diseases including chicken pox and herpes.

There have been no reports of others with similar symptoms.

(Excerpt) Read more at news-press.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bioterrorism; hospital; smallpox
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I certainly hope it isn't smallpox -- but it is curious that they still don't really know what it is, and since they say there have been no reports of others with similar symptoms, and they have seen pretty much everything in hospitals, it does make one wonder, just what it is. But in an earlier article they said they were sure she has some type of infectious disease and rashes, which is what made them think of the possibility of smallpox.
1 posted on 10/23/2002 9:21:25 AM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: FairOpinion
A good drill. Hope other hospitals are paying attn. There's also "cow pox."
2 posted on 10/23/2002 9:25:05 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: FairOpinion
Hmmm... Florida again....
3 posted on 10/23/2002 9:26:07 AM PDT by Snowy
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To: FairOpinion; dd5339; cavtrooper21
Same thing happened the other day at St John's Hospital in Leavenworth KS. Turned out to be a really bad case of chickenpox (hospital no longer under quarantine). The guy's pox were pustulent according to the reports I heard.
4 posted on 10/23/2002 9:42:28 AM PDT by Vic3O3
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To: FairOpinion
Besides smallpox, doctors are looking at a long list of diseases including chicken pox and herpes.

Shingles would be my guess.
5 posted on 10/23/2002 9:43:24 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: FairOpinion
Didn't the anthrax thing start in Florida? Hope this is a false alarm.
6 posted on 10/23/2002 9:48:21 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
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To: FairOpinion
There's almost no doctor living who's seen an actual case of smallpox. Badly septic chickenpox or even prickly heat could be mistaken for smallpox if you're working from descriptions in a book . . . it has happened before. Vide George MacDonald Fraser's story "Fly Man" in The General Danced at Dawn.

Better safe than sorry. And if a few false alarms like this encourage the govt. to allow us to choose to be vaccinated (or in my case revaccinated for what must be the 4th or 5th time), so much the better.

7 posted on 10/23/2002 9:52:01 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother
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To: FairOpinion
Besides smallpox, doctors are looking at a long list of diseases including chicken pox and herpes.

Q: So why, in view of the long list, does the headline read "smallpox?"

A: Because the objective is to keep the sheeple on edge by any means possible, thereby providing cover for the state's continuing power grab.

8 posted on 10/23/2002 9:53:07 AM PDT by Beenliedto
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To: phasma proeliator
PING
9 posted on 10/23/2002 10:19:48 AM PDT by jdogbearhunter
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To: FairOpinion
“We don’t know exactly what she has, but her symptoms are consistent with an infectious disease,”

Wow! I, for one, am blown away by the sheer Holmesian (as in Sherlock) deductive brilliance of this statement. I hope that the "plan" that our fearless Feds have for a REAL smallpox outbreak takes into account the VERY SIGNIFICANT time delay in diagnosis of the index case, which will certainly be at least several days- perhaps a week AFTER symptoms appear.

The alternative is to "lock down" the whole country every time a case of herpes is seen...

10 posted on 10/23/2002 10:38:52 AM PDT by RANGERAIRBORNE
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To: da_toolman
Ping
11 posted on 10/23/2002 10:43:45 AM PDT by phasma proeliator
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To: FairOpinion
BUMP
12 posted on 10/23/2002 11:22:52 AM PDT by Diana Rose
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To: aruanan
I'm not siding with anyone, but you must have been eavesdropping to say that. Let's keep our minds of the gutter before spouting off.... 8~)
13 posted on 10/23/2002 12:53:36 PM PDT by tracer
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To: tracer
I'm not siding with anyone, but you must have been eavesdropping to say that. Let's keep our minds of the gutter before spouting off.... 8~)

No, I've just seen photos of smallpox and I've seen a bad case of shingles close up.
14 posted on 10/23/2002 12:58:52 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: aruanan
You must not appreciate puns.... 8~)
15 posted on 10/23/2002 1:13:23 PM PDT by tracer
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To: aruanan
Well, at least you didn't raise the roof......
16 posted on 10/23/2002 1:14:33 PM PDT by tracer
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To: RANGERAIRBORNE
The alternative is to "lock down" the whole country every time a case of herpes is seen

That would sure make it difficult for the 'Toon to deliver his $100k speeches....

17 posted on 10/23/2002 1:15:38 PM PDT by steve-b
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To: tracer
Well, at least you didn't raise the roof......

I was flashing my expertise to show how well I had it nailed.
18 posted on 10/23/2002 1:33:16 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: tracer
You must not appreciate puns.... 8~)

He may not appreciate puns, but you certainly have me beaming! :)

19 posted on 10/23/2002 1:35:55 PM PDT by Snowy
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To: aruanan
Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!! Uncle!! Uncle!!
20 posted on 10/23/2002 1:36:45 PM PDT by tracer
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