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Source: http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,110139.html
There are some revealing clinical details in this article.
YOUNG MOM IS 5TH SWINE FLU DEATH
By INVERA ARJOON Saturday, October 31 2009
A YOUNG mother from Fyzabad is the fifth person to die of complications from the Influenza A/H1N1 (swine flu) virus. The woman died yesterday morning at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). All five swine flu deaths in the country have been at the main hospital in South Trinidad.
Several senior medical sources from the SFGH yesterday said the 34-year-old woman who was the mother of a six-year-old girl, was warded at the hospital’s ICU for the past two weeks. She died at about 1.15 am.
A senior source said the woman was hooked up to a ventilator and was being treated for swine flu. An autopsy carried out yesterday evening at the SFGH mortuary revealed the woman died from pneumonia and renal failure.
Sources at that hospital said doctors received a verbal report via a telephone call from officials of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), where swab samples from the woman were sent for tests, that she had tested positive for the Influenza A H1N1 virus. The source stressed, “we have not received a written report to confirm it was H1N1. But we got a verbal report stating that the findings from CAREC of tests on swabs taken from the woman came back positive for H1N1. But at the moment we have nothing in writing.”
Prior to this death, four persons died from swine flu at the SFGH within a short space of time. All victims lived in South Trinidad.
At a press conference on October 16, Medical Director at the SFGH, Stephen Ramroop stated categorically that there were four deaths at the SFGH due to the pandemic H1N1 virus.
South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) executive medical director Albert Persaud said three of the victims were between the ages of 30-49 and all were admitted in the late stages of the illness. He said post mortems indicated the same finding for cause of death — pneumonia and severe lung disease, “which is the finding internationally with persons who succumbed to the H1N1 virus.”
Yesterday at the woman’s home, grieving relatives said she was taken to a private doctor on October 13, where she was given tablets and told to drink lots of fluids. However, after the woman continued to experience fever and vomiting she was taken to the SFGH on Divali night, where relatives said they were told she had pneumonia and a severe lung infection.
Relatives said only the woman’s husband was able to visit her briefly during her stay at SFGH. The woman’s husband was not at her bedside when she died yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, a policeman from San Fernando Police Station who last week caused the San Fernando High Court to be closed prematurely for a day when he started exhibiting flu like symptoms, underwent a tracheotomy procedure on Thursday and remains hooked up to a ventilator at the SFGH ICU.
However, doctors treating the officer said they were baffled since a written report from CAREC showed he had tested negative for swine flu. “We have been treating him for swine flu as he exhibited all swine flu symptoms. But we will now conduct further tests to determine what virus he has,” a doctor said. ”
Also, the two-year-old son of a former top South-West Regional Health Authority official (SWRHA) who tested positive for swine flu, remains warded at the ICU at SFGH in critical condition.
Sources said a young girl also tested positive for swine flu and is warded at the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the SFGH. “At the moment she is fighting on her own and is doing better than the others.”
Sources said that the highest number of suspected cases at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope are among children, with an estimated 15 of them being warded at the Paediatric Ward of the Wendy Fitzwilliam Children’s Hospital.
“There are lots of people showing up for testing but we just can’t swab everyone. In fact even the ones who have tested positive, but with a mild strain, these we are sending home. There are five people at the isolation ward and these are being treated,” an EWMSC source said.
There are some revealing clinical details in this article.
YOUNG MOM IS 5TH SWINE FLU DEATH
By INVERA ARJOON Saturday, October 31 2009
A YOUNG mother from Fyzabad is the fifth person to die of complications from the Influenza A/H1N1 (swine flu) virus. The woman died yesterday morning at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH). All five swine flu deaths in the country have been at the main hospital in South Trinidad.
Several senior medical sources from the SFGH yesterday said the 34-year-old woman who was the mother of a six-year-old girl, was warded at the hospital’s ICU for the past two weeks. She died at about 1.15 am.
A senior source said the woman was hooked up to a ventilator and was being treated for swine flu. An autopsy carried out yesterday evening at the SFGH mortuary revealed the woman died from pneumonia and renal failure.
Sources at that hospital said doctors received a verbal report via a telephone call from officials of the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), where swab samples from the woman were sent for tests, that she had tested positive for the Influenza A H1N1 virus. The source stressed, “we have not received a written report to confirm it was H1N1. But we got a verbal report stating that the findings from CAREC of tests on swabs taken from the woman came back positive for H1N1. But at the moment we have nothing in writing.”
Prior to this death, four persons died from swine flu at the SFGH within a short space of time. All victims lived in South Trinidad.
At a press conference on October 16, Medical Director at the SFGH, Stephen Ramroop stated categorically that there were four deaths at the SFGH due to the pandemic H1N1 virus.
South-West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) executive medical director Albert Persaud said three of the victims were between the ages of 30-49 and all were admitted in the late stages of the illness. He said post mortems indicated the same finding for cause of death — pneumonia and severe lung disease, “which is the finding internationally with persons who succumbed to the H1N1 virus.”
Yesterday at the woman’s home, grieving relatives said she was taken to a private doctor on October 13, where she was given tablets and told to drink lots of fluids. However, after the woman continued to experience fever and vomiting she was taken to the SFGH on Divali night, where relatives said they were told she had pneumonia and a severe lung infection.
Relatives said only the woman’s husband was able to visit her briefly during her stay at SFGH. The woman’s husband was not at her bedside when she died yesterday morning.
Meanwhile, a policeman from San Fernando Police Station who last week caused the San Fernando High Court to be closed prematurely for a day when he started exhibiting flu like symptoms, underwent a tracheotomy procedure on Thursday and remains hooked up to a ventilator at the SFGH ICU.
However, doctors treating the officer said they were baffled since a written report from CAREC showed he had tested negative for swine flu. “We have been treating him for swine flu as he exhibited all swine flu symptoms. But we will now conduct further tests to determine what virus he has,” a doctor said. ”
Also, the two-year-old son of a former top South-West Regional Health Authority official (SWRHA) who tested positive for swine flu, remains warded at the ICU at SFGH in critical condition.
Sources said a young girl also tested positive for swine flu and is warded at the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the SFGH. “At the moment she is fighting on her own and is doing better than the others.”
Sources said that the highest number of suspected cases at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope are among children, with an estimated 15 of them being warded at the Paediatric Ward of the Wendy Fitzwilliam Children’s Hospital.
“There are lots of people showing up for testing but we just can’t swab everyone. In fact even the ones who have tested positive, but with a mild strain, these we are sending home. There are five people at the isolation ward and these are being treated,” an EWMSC source said.