South Korea - Patients reportedly with "mysterious" respiratory illness - 28 fatalities reported - exposure to toxic humidifier chemicals confirmed

[sharon sanders]

machine translated -

Not sure what this is. Epoch Times is the source...

South Korea emerged as the main maternal mystery pneumonia patients

By May 9, 2011 Reuters (Associated Press text Long / Jinming Yao reported Seoul) South Korea has recently emerged a group of mysterious pneumonia virus patients, mostly patients with maternal, individual patients have been accepted for lung surgery. Part 9, South Korea, said disease management, this pathogenic virus has not yet been confirmed.
Disease management headquarters yesterday, South Korea (8) that the six infected patients with pneumonia of unknown virus, the recent stay at a large hospital in Seoul. 5 patients are mothers, most of them before and after birth to show symptoms such as cough and breathing difficulties, initially diagnosed as tuberculosis by small clinics, pulmonary edema or heart failure and so on. The other is a 40-year-old man.
Patients transferred to major hospitals in Seoul after it was diagnosed as "infected with the virus of unknown pulmonary fibrosis." Only one female patients whose condition had improved and were placed in general wards, the rest were all placed in the intensive care unit, some of them rely on artificial lung or breathing oxygen tube, a mother seriously ill the day before yesterday (7 days) has been accepted for lung surgery, while patients with renal insufficiency, congestive heart or brain.
Not yet identified the specific virus causing pulmonary fibrosis, disease management headquarters Korean investigators on the 9th to accept the "Epoch Times" a telephone interview that, in almost the same time and the same people (maternal) the disease occurs, is not there species of special HIV-specific populations, currently under investigation.
Bureau of stakeholders, said the virus has not contagious, it is still under investigation, estimated infectious small, because the patient's family and friends nearby, also not found in these patients.
In Korea, most of such cases in the past year took place only two cases this year also appeared the first time so many patients. Investigators said they had established a monitoring system, is being closely monitored.

http://www.epochtimes.com.au/gb/11/5/9/n3251967.htm

[alert]

Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 5 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

The obvious (but not automatically correct) answer here is that these are undiagnosed H1N1 cases. H1N1 is known to be more severe in pregnant women:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143570

and it is difficult to imagine another exposure that five unconnected pregnant women would have that others would not.

The same thing happened in Vietnam last year:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=146673,

and in Guizou, China:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145544

The translation is a bit crude, but it might also be 6 cases, not 8.

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 5 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/05/117_86764.html

05-10-2011 18:36

Woman dies from unidentified viral pneumonia

By Kim Rahn

A woman died from pneumonia caused by an unidentified virus, according to the health authorities.

Fears are rampant as seven others, mostly pregnant women, are hospitalized with the same illness.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that a 36-year-old woman, who had been in the intensive care unit at a Seoul general hospital, died in the morning from a cerebral hemorrhage related to her condition. The unidentified woman was one of seven hospitalized for an unknown viral pneumonia.

The woman, who was nine months pregnant, visited the hospital on April 8 and she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Three days later she was admitted to the unit as her condition worsened despite medication. Premature labor was induced so she could receive further treatment.

Soon after giving birth she rapidly developed pulmonary fibrosis while showing symptoms of cerebral hemorrhaging and died.

The authorities are studying to distinguish the virus. ?It will take some time to identify through DNA tests what caused the pneumonia. It is critical to determine whether the virus that caused the pulmonary fibrosis is a new strain that has not been reported before,? an official of the centers said.

As to the fact that seven out of the eight patients are women who recently gave birth or are expecting soon, the authorities said it is too early to say the disease is prevalent particularly among pregnant women.

?According to theses, 1.51 out of every 1,000 pregnant women contract pneumonia, and the cause is unknown in 30 percent of the cases. Pregnant women should not be overly concerned,? the official said.

[alert]

Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 5 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

Looks like she may have tested positive for flu.

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110510000309

Woman dies of mystery virus
2011-05-10 19:12

Fears rise over possibility of the deadly disease afflicting pregnant women


A 36-year-old woman who had recently given birth died of complications from an unidentified virus Tuesday at a Seoul hospital, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

This is the first fatality reported from the pneumonia-causing virus and authorities are still struggling to trace its origin and find treatment.

The victim was among eight patients who checked into the intensive care unit of a large hospital in Seoul last month for infection with an unknown virus. She was initially diagnosed with tuberculosis and was medicated but soon showed signs of cerebral hemorrhage and rapidly developing-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

She was nine months pregnant when admitted and had to have labor induced so that she could continue taking medication that could have been fatal to the unborn child.

The authorities are focusing on verifying the origin of the virus by studying the specimen taken from the patient and conducting genetic analysis on it.

?The results are expected to come Thursday but the genetic test will take more than eight weeks, which means that more time is needed,? Yang Byoung-goog, a KCDC official, said. ?The virus we have extracted from the specimen was more of an ordinary flu virus. However, we need to look closer into what has caused pulmonary fibrosis.?

Fears are growing despite the government?s efforts, especially among pregnant women: Of the seven hospitalized patients, six of them were pregnant or recently had been pregnant.

Experts say the families of the remaining six patients are also under extreme stress. ?According to reports, about 1.51 out of every 1,000 pregnant women suffers from pneumonia. In more than 30 percent of cases, the cause is not identified,? Yang said. ?I advise people not to panic: Three of the seven patients are showing signs of recovery.?

[alert]

Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 5 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

And apparently one positive for adenovirus, and one for coronavirus (hopefully not the SARS coronavirus....)

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2936045

Mystery virus in 8 patients kills one

May 11, 2011
A mystery virus that has infected eight patients from different parts of the country claimed its first known victim yesterday morning after a 36-year-old, nine-months pregnant woman died in a Seoul hospital of multiple organ failure triggered by pulmonary fibrosis and a stroke.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday that the woman had received intensive care treatment in a general hospital in Seoul for a month before her death. Doctors managed to save the baby.

According to the KCDC, the victim was one of the eight patients in the hospital receiving treatment for various conditions suspected to be caused by the same unidentified virus. All patients initially received treatments at different clinics around the country, but were later transferred to the Seoul hospital to receive intensive care, the KCDC said. The patients were not infected because they were at the same hospital, it said.

Seven of the eight patients, including the victim, were pregnant or had recently given birth. One was an adult male in his 40s.

One patient was treated and released on May 4, and another received a lung transplant after treatments failed.

The KCDC said the 36-year-old victim visited a clinic on April 8 after showing severe cold- or flu-like symptoms. On April 11, she was rushed to the Seoul hospital.

Despite the hospital??s efforts, pulmonary fibrosis, or scarring of the lungs, developed rapidly. After suffering from cerebral hemorrhage, the patient died 7 a.m. yesterday.

As anxiety spreads over the mysterious disease, health authorities said they are trying to identify the virus. Other possibilities, including bacterial infections and other immunological diseases, are being investigated.

Initial tests by the hospital discovered adenovirus and coronavirus, common cold causes, in two patients. But the KCDC said they may not be the cause of the pulmonary fibrosis.

??So far, we have found viruses that are often discovered in common cold patients,?? said Yang Byeong-guk, head of infectious diseases at the KCDC. ??What??s important is to identify whether the pulmonary fibrosis is triggered by a new kind of virus or not.??

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

It is not clear what is going on here. The patients did not have contact with each other, and come from different parts of the country. Several have tested positive for various things (at least one each for adenovirus and coronavirus, and maybe one for influenza as well, although the article might be using the word "flu" to refer to one of the other viruses). Could they have contracted something else in the ICU in Seoul such as Legionella? There is no mention of illness in any family or HCW contacts.

There appear to have been eight such cases; one has died, one has been discharged, and six remain hospitalized.

Someone should send this to ProMED.

[Giuseppe]

Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

An overview about Interstitial Lung Diseases classification, causes and treatment is also available at Merck Manuals: http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec...50/ch050a.html

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

An overview about Interstitial Lung Diseases classification, causes and treatment is also available at Merck Manuals: http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec...50/ch050a.html

Interesting. In this list is a condition known as Lymphangiomyomatosis which is described as affecting primarily pregnant women, as in this outbreak.

I can't find any explanation of what might cause Lymphangiomyomatosis, however, but it seems that more may be going on here than merely viral pneumonia, and certainly does not look like the incidents linked in post #2.

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

The translator is a bit rough here, and I am not fully sure this even refers to the same incident.

http://waygook.org/index.php?topic=11148.0

A sad day for foreigners in Korea.


Pregnant women had died of pneumonia virus
If 9| Article Date 2011-05-10 02:42
Advertising

February youngnamseo come nine months pregnant woman two weeks after the onset

"Pregnant women, weak immune system fall hard for phlegm-spitting"

Patients with viral pneumonia, 6 patients unresolved occur simultaneously, dual 5 people news that women (9, 12 Dong-side) for pregnant women and their families is a growing concern. Experts point falling pregnant with their immune systems, the more cough, phlegm-spitting to full term is not easy to raise lung disease that has been described.

CDC officials a "This is not a virus that seems to be only mothers, pregnant women not to take medication for the fetus because of worsening illness and the patient can be increased," he said. However, CDC currently the cause of the other officials could not be explained entirely sure. The official "a feverish flu deaths in the United States when the proportion of pregnant patients was very high" and "respiratory illness in pregnant women, because there were lots of complications," he said. However, the official "OK but with the phenomenon, then, 'why is' The answer may not come out yet," he said.

Kim Jong Hwa Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, "Pregnant women with normal immune systems than the contrary, the term of pregnancy pregnant women more likely than second immunity more falls," he explained. Kim, especially "when the full term rather than diaphragm activity did not work, not easy to bend your back is difficult to cough, phlegm and spit it will not let" and "does not exhaust out the mucus in the lungs as a hotbed of virus activity, if can be, "he explained.

Kim is "basically to avoid virus infection (immune system to prevent loss) to avoid fatigue, and should be avoided where a lot of people," he explained. When you turn on a humidifier and difficult to expectorate sputum improves the moisture to come out more easily because they are stuck phlegm, but rather the virus that creates a humidifier because it can cause a caution, he added. Professor Kim, "if you have symptoms such as cough, sputum and respiratory medicine to find a good," he advised.

Meanwhile, in the last nine months of February [?], Daegu area have been diagnosed with viral pneumonia in pregnant women known to have died in two weeks. A patient's relatives said that he "was very health of the mother without any long term damage 2 weeks after the deadliest larger impact all family members, still have not solved the question," he said. The recent outbreak of pneumonia and is almost identical to the type, but has not been confirmed whether the same virus. Animated children by Caesarean section.

Centers for Disease Control and 6 patients currently in hospital are conducting an epidemiological investigation and large hospitals around the country that there are additional cases have been confirmed.

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/10/mystery-virus-afflicts-8-in-s-korea/

Mystery virus afflicts 8 in S. Korea
May 10th, 2011
02:37 PMET

A mystery virus has sickened at least eight people in South Korea, including a pregnant woman who died in a Seoul hospital, according to numerous reports.

The woman, 36 years old and nine months pregnant, died Monday of pneumonia related to the unidentified virus, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Yonhap news agency reports. Labor was induced for the mother, and the baby survived, the Korea Times said.

Including the woman who died, seven of the eight patients were pregnant when they arrived at the Seoul hospital. The other is a 40-year-old man, the Korea JoonAng Daily reported.

Each patient is from different parts of the country, and the KCDC said that they had initially undergone treatment at different clinics for various conditions suspected to be caused by the same unidentified virus. They were all later transferred to the Seoul hospital, likely ruling out the possibility that the root of the problem can be traced back to the same facility.

[sharon sanders]

Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

Entire thread sent to ProMED.

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/05/11/2011051101003.html

Fears Mount Over Mysterious Pneumonia-Linked VirusFears are mounting over a mysterious virus that left seven pregnant women hospitalized with pneumonia and caused the death of one of them on Tuesday. Health officials say they have been unable to identify the pathogen that is causing the illness and are trying their best to trace the cause.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has mobilized epidemiologists and other experts to find the cause of the disease, saying the simultaneous onset of acute pneumonia in several pregnant women is unprecedented.

One 35-year-old woman died after being hospitalized last month with cold symptoms that developed at the end of March. Koh Yoon-seok, a respiratologist at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine, said, "We see about two to four cases a year of pregnant women with serious lung damage or death from such ailments, but it is rare to see a collective onset of the infection."

Health officials are investigating whether pregnant women in 40 university hospitals are showing similar symptoms and are collecting samples from patients. It will take two weeks to get results from tissue samples and more than eight weeks to complete DNA analyses. "In other countries, the causes of 30 percent of pneumonia cases remains unidentified, but pregnant women are not more vulnerable and there are no signs of an epidemic," said Yang Byung-kook at the KCDC. "So there is no need for expecting mothers to panic."

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

http://health.asiaone.com/Health/News/Story/A1Story20110511-278138.html

Woman dies of mystery virus

By Bae Ji-sook

A 36-year-old woman who had recently given birth died of complications from an unidentified virus Tuesday at a Seoul hospital, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

This is the first fatality reported from the pneumonia-causing virus and authorities are still struggling to trace its origin and find treatment.


The victim was among eight patients who checked into the intensive care unit of a large hospital in Seoul last month for infection with an unknown virus. She was initially diagnosed with tuberculosis and was medicated but soon showed signs of cerebral hemorrhage and rapidly developing-idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

She was nine months pregnant when admitted and had to have labor induced so that she could continue taking medication that could have been fatal to the unborn child.

The authorities are focusing on verifying the origin of the virus by studying the specimen taken from the patient and conducting genetic analysis on it.

"The results are expected to come Thursday but the genetic test will take more than eight weeks, which means that more time is needed," Yang Byoung-goog, a KCDC official, said. "The virus we have extracted from the specimen was more of an ordinary flu virus. However, we need to look closer into what has caused pulmonary fibrosis."

Fears are growing despite the government's efforts, especially among pregnant women: Of the seven hospitalized patients, six of them were pregnant or recently had been pregnant.

Experts say the families of the remaining six patients are also under extreme stress. "According to reports, about 1.51 out of every 1,000 pregnant women suffers from pneumonia. In more than 30 per cent of cases, the cause is not identified," Yang said. "I advise people not to panic: Three of the seven patients are showing signs of recovery."

-The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

Perhaps something other than a viral infection is to blame...

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2011/05/11/48/0503000000AEN20110511009600320F.HTML

2011/05/11 17:47 KST
S. Korea unlikely to face fast spread of 'unidentified virus': gov't agency SEOUL, May 11 (Yonhap) -- The unidentified virus that might have caused the death of a South Korean woman earlier this week does not seem to be spreading quickly, the nation's disease control agency said Wednesday.

The 36-year-old woman died on Monday in the intensive care unit at a Seoul hospital after being admitted last month for tuberculosis. Her infection and death were caused by an unidentified virus, the first of its kind here in Korea.

Six more women are currently being treated for similar cases of pneumonia at the hospital, raising concerns that the unknown virus might have been spreading fast among citizens here.

"We conducted tests on samples taken from the six patients and found no viruses that might have caused the death of the woman except that we detected adenovirus in just one patient," said an official for the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The KCDC official noted that adenovirus is commonly known to cause colds and pneumonia but it seems to have had nothing to do with the death of the woman earlier this week.

All of those patients reportedly showed such symptoms as coughing and breathing disruptions in the early stages, with their lungs suffering pulmonary fibrosis. Most of them either recently gave birth or are currently pregnant.

The KCDC said it will conduct further tests to determine the woman's exact cause of death and the symptoms among the other patients by analyzing food they have eaten and other factors such as their living environments.

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Re: South Korea - 8 patients reportedly with "mysterious" pneumonia - 7 are pregnant or recently delivered mothers

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2011/05/korean-mystery-pneumonia.html

Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Korean `Mystery’ Pneumonia

# 5548

While it may be of relatively little comfort, there are almost certainly a significant number of – as yet – unidentified respiratory viruses that routinely circulate among humans.


Most of the time there is little about their clinical signs and symptoms to suggest anything unusual about the infection. The patient quickly recovers, and the illness is assumed to be due to one of the `usual suspects’; a seasonal influenza, RSV, or one of the myriad rhinoviruses that plague mankind.



In recent years, however, with advances in microbiology and sequence-independent amplification of viral genomes, the ability of scientists to identify new viruses has improved greatly and so we are adding new names to the `suspect list’.



About a decade ago the human metapneumovirus (HMPV) was identified in Dutch children with bronchiolitis. Since then, it has been found to be ubiquitous around the world, and responsible for a significant percentage of the world’s respiratory infections . . . yet until 2001, no one knew it existed.



In 2003, a coronavirus called SARS-CoV emerged in China, and infected roughly 8,000 people (killing about 800) before it burned itself out. While coronaviruses were first characterized in the 1960s, and were known to cause many relatively mild upper respiratory infections (common colds) every year, a deadly strain had never been identified before.



Human Bocavirus-infection (HBoV) wasn’t identified until 2005, when it was detected in 48 (9.1&#37 of 527 children with gastroenteritis in Spain (cite).



The list grows longer every year.



But only a small number of virus samples are given this sort of scientific scrutiny, and so it is safe to assume there are still unknown viruses out there, waiting to be discovered.



Of course, unknown (or unidentified) doesn’t necessarily mean `new’.



Most of the time, these viruses have been around for a long time, and classifying them has very little impact on the public’s health.



On very rare occasions, as in the case of SARS, we get a new player; a virus that we’ve never seen before (that we know of).



For the past couple of days there have been media reports out of South Korea that suggest they may be seeing an unusually severe and potentially unknown respiratory virus – and efforts are underway to identify it.



Yesterday, Sharon Sanders of FluTrackers picked on up early reports of a number of pregnant women in a Seoul Hospital with a `mystery’ respiratory virus. Since then several more articles (some machine translated) have been posted to this ongoing thread.



These media reports are confusing, incomplete, at times contradictory, and just a little hyperbolic.



Whether there is really anything unusual going on here, is way too soon to tell. The cause of viral pneumonia often goes unidentified.



That said, the following report comes from the Korea Times.



05-10-2011 18:36


Woman dies from unidentified viral pneumonia


By Kim Rahn


A woman died from pneumonia caused by an unidentified virus, according to the health authorities.


Fears are rampant as seven others, mostly pregnant women, are hospitalized with the same illness.



The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that a 36-year-old woman, who had been in the intensive care unit at a Seoul general hospital, died in the morning from a cerebral hemorrhage related to her condition. The unidentified woman was one of seven hospitalized for an unknown viral pneumonia.


(Continue . . .)



Unusually, the woman who died apparently developed rapidly progressing Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis – a scaring and stiffening of lung tissue without a known cause that normally takes months or years to manifest.



Sifting through the other reports, it appears that these 9 patients:



had no previous contact with each other
have been transferred from various clinics around the country
have occurred over an period of a month or more
and victim’s families and contacts have not developed similar symptoms.


Whatever this might be (and it may be something perfectly ordinary, presenting in an unusual way), it doesn’t appear to be terribly contagious.



But this is interesting.



And so we’ll keep an eye on it and see if anything of note follows these reports.