Doctors' offices filled amid children's unexplained deaths

The Virginian-Pilot ^ | Feb.22,2003 | ELIZABETH SIMPSON AND LIZ SZABO

[republicangel]

Pediatric offices and emergency rooms in Hampton Roads were jammed Friday with parents anxious to make sure their children's fevers and runny noses weren't life-threatening, as health investigators continued to study the unexplained deaths of five children in five days. ``I took off work to bring my daughter in,'' said Mashiah Mitchell, who brought his 4-year-old daughter, Asha, to Renaissance Pediatrics in Chesapeake because she had a fever. ``I got alarmed when I heard the news about the children dying.''

The fears were triggered by an investigation launched Thursday by the Virginia Department of Health into the deaths of four local children and one from Richmond who previously had been fairly healthy.

Investigators from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have joined the inquiry. State health investigators were also in touch Friday with officials in Michigan, where there were seven unexplained deaths of children with flulike symptoms earlier this year.

[Mo1]

I also remember Drudge had a report/article a few months back stating that this years flu season could be much more serious then they orginially thought it would be

A few years back there was a real bad flu season and ALOT folks around here .. Including myself landed in the hospital.

[mabelkitty]

Detroit has a "peaceful religion nest", so the deaths in Michigan raised my alert level.

[exnavy]

I prefer to think of Detroit as, "a target rich environment".

[GWfan]

Reading this, one question come to mind. Were these kids allowed to stay home while they were sick?

It seems to me that many, many parents still ship their kids off to school or day care while the kids are contagious, thus perpetuating the illnesses. A lot of times this is so the parents don't have to miss work.

In my neck of the woods, there are little-mentioned out breaks of meningitis almost every year. This year, scarlet fever has made a come back in two nearby towns. Scarlet fever is caused by strep A and can turn into rheumatic fever or worse if untreated. Late last year it was whooping cough showing up. My point is, that these are all naturally occurring.

[republicangel]

According to news reports, yes they were at home sick. one child was even a doctor's daughter. Another not mentioned in this story is a little boy in N. Carolina. He was in the hospital when he died and they don't know what he died from either. He was getting better and suddenly took a turn for the worse and his parents rushed him to the hospital and he died the next day.

[Lion's Cub]

Thanks for the flag.

I owe the CDC an apology I guess. I hadn't heard that they were investigating, and I just posted a rant about it on another thread. Better go back and eat some crow :)