A/H1N1 eyed in S.C. 11 yr. old girl's death- CONFIRMED

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.thestate.com/local/story/955876.html

Thursday, Sep. 24, 2009
Swine flu eyed in S.C. child's death
Autopsy to probe whether H1N1 virus was factor in death of Sumter girl, 11
By JOEY HOLLEMAN - jholleman@thestate.com

An 11-year-old Sumter girl who had flu-like symptoms early this week died Wednesday in an ambulance en route to Columbia, authorities said.

Ashley Pipkin was a fifth-grade student at Laurence Manning Academy in Manning. Family members said Pipkin began to feel bad Monday with flu-like symptoms. She took a codeine-based cough medicine and began having trouble breathing Tuesday.

Doctors at Tuomey Regional Medical Center in Sumter diagnosed Ashley with pneumonia on Tuesday, family members said. She was being transported to Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia when she died Wednesday.

Ashley's body will be taken to Newberry County for a forensic autopsy, said Sumter County coroner Harvin Bullock.

Before Ashley's death, Laurence Manning Academy was closed Wednesday for the rest of the week because about 280 of its 1,000 students did not come to school on Tuesday, according to headmaster Spencer Jordan. Many of those absent had been diagnosed with flu, Jordan said.

Many doctors no longer are routinely testing to determine the strain of flu affecting patients. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that nearly all flu cases at this time are the H1N1 strain, commonly referred to as swine flu.

The autopsy will determine whether Ashley had swine flu and whether it contributed to her death. If so, she would be at least the second child whose death was associated with the H1N1 virus in South Carolina.

John H. McCormick, 12, of Batesburg-Leesville died Aug. 24 after contracting swine flu, according to his family. John had cerebral palsy and other lifelong health problems.

Ashley's family said she was a healthy, active child who played softball.

The H1N1 virus has hit young people more than the usual seasonal flu, prompting health experts to suspect older people may have developed limited immunity to the strain through the years. Since it first struck the U.S. in April, swine flu has been blamed for 114 pediatric deaths in the country, according to the CDC.

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control characterizes the current swine flu outbreak as widespread in the state. But the actual number of influenza-like illnesses reported by doctors dropped slightly in the last week of reporting, ending Sept. 12.

Swine flu, which first was diagnosed in Mexico early this year, carries symptoms similar to seasonal flu - including high fever, body aches, cough, runny nose and lethargy. If the disease is diagnosed early, anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu can reduce severity and length of symptoms.

The best way to slow the spread is to wash hands thoroughly and frequently, cough into a tissue or the crook of your elbow (not your hand) and, most importantly, stay home if you have several of the swine flu symptoms. Health officials say it is safe to return to school or work if you go 24 hours without high fever.

While symptoms of swine flu thus far have generally been more mild than those of seasonal flu, either virus can be deadly in people with other underlying health problems. Seasonal flu contributes to the deaths of an estimated 36,000 each year in the United States, according to the CDC.
Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366.

 

[yielddude]

Re: A/H1N1 eyed in S.C. 11 yr. old girl's death

Re: A/H1N1 eyed in S.C. 11 yr. old girl's death

This school was pro-active and had already cancelled school for W,TH,F.
They had a lot of children out (280). With this girl's death, it should make many realize how serious this is, and that the school made a good decision in cancelling the week's classes. Hopefully, all the other students will be fine.

 

[Chuck]

Re: A/H1N1 eyed in S.C. 11 yr. old girl's death

Re: A/H1N1 eyed in S.C. 11 yr. old girl's death

http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=356011

Laurence Manning Academy coping with loss of classmate

By Sara Jane Harris
Monday, September 28, 2009 at 8:31 p.m.

School is back in session at Laurence Manning Academy, after the Clarendon County School closed it's doors last week due to health concerns.
Nearly 290 students called in sick citing flu symptoms.
Just a day later, 5th-grader Ashlie Pipkin died while on the way to the hospital, she had fallen ill just days earlier.
This morning, the school reopened it doors.
Grief counselors have been called in to help students work through the loss of a classmate.
The students are on the road to recovery.

In Mrs.. Brown's 5th grade class at Laurence Manning Elementary, there's an empty desk.
That's where 11-year old Ashlie Pipkin used to sit.
Pipkin died Wednesday, from what official believe was the flu.

"Well there's a variety of questions from what happened and wanting some understanding about what happened to their classmate, to what's going to happen and what is it going to mean to us," says Michelle Newman.

Newman is one of 20 grief counselors on the Laurence Manning campus this week.
Newman says students are having a hard time understanding that their classmate is gone.

"Sometimes children that age have a hard time putting feelings into words and what is that they are feeling, and I find it in my work beneficial to allow children to draw or write, or color...write a letter or make a card," says Newman.

Headmaster Spencer Jordan says dealing with the emotions has been difficult while students try to get back to business as usual.

"We've been trying to go through as many of the daily activities as we possibly can," says Dr. Jordan.

Since 287 students called in sick last week with flu-like symptoms, the school looks different.
Classrooms are stocked with hand gels and disinfectant wipes.
And there are new sanitizer dispensers in the hallways.

"From a physical standpoint, and a physiological standpoint, we are doing what we can for these children, in times of grief," says Dr. Jordan.

And in these times, students will find their own ways to remember and deal with the loss of a friend.

Autopsy results for Pipkin are expected sometime Tuesday.

Wach Fox News will of course continue to follow this story and bring you the latest.

 

[Chuck]

Re: A/H1N1 eyed in S.C. 11 yr. old girl's death

Re: A/H1N1 eyed in S.C. 11 yr. old girl's death

http://www.thestate.com/local/story/963588.html

Autopsy confirms Sumter fifth-grader died of complications from swine flu
Joey Holleman, The State / jholleman@thestate.com


The Sumter County coroner confirmed Tuesday that a Laurence Manning Academy fifth-grader died last week of complications from swine flu.

The official cause of death for Ashlie Pipkin, 11, is pneumonia, according to Harvey Bullock. The H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as swine flu, was the underlying factor that brought on the pneumonia, and Ashlie also had bronchitis, the coroner said.

The autopsy results fit the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for a swine flu-related death. Ashlie?s death is at least the third of a child in the past month from the novel flu virus that began showing up in the state in April and reached widespread status in August.
Ashlie Pipkin

Ashlie Pipkin (Source: Selena Moore)

*

The publicity about Ashlie?s death reminds South Carolinians of the seriousness of flu. Seasonal flu kills hundreds in the state every year, often the elderly or very young with other underlying health problems.

Ashlie played in a softball tournament Sept. 19-20 and began suffering from flu-like symptoms on Sept. 21, according to family members. She was diagnosed with pneumonia on Sept. 22 at Toumey Regional Medical Center in Sumter, and she died en route to Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia on Sept. 23.

Swine flu also recently contributed to the death of another Midlands child, 3-year-old Jaden Myers-Pugh of Columbia on Sept. 17, according to Richland County coroner Gary Watts. Jaden, who had flu symptoms for several days, died in his home. He also had sickle-cell anemia, which might have contributed to his death.

In August, 12-year-old John H. McCormick of Batesburg-Leesville was the first child in the state to die of swine flu complications. John also had cerebral palsy and other lifelong medical problems.

Before the two recent deaths, the state had recorded four swine flu-related deaths in the nearly six months the virus had been considered widespread in the state, according to DHEC.

Since Aug. 30, there have been 76 confirmed hospitalizations with swine flu in the state, according to DHEC.

Health officials acknowledge those numbers aren?t exact because people who are hospitalized or die with other health complications might not have been tested for flu. But the criteria for reporting hospitalizations and deaths changes only slightly from year to year, and the hospitalizations and deaths from swine flu are well below those numbers for seasonal flu.

Laurence Manning Academy in Manning, where Ashlie attended school, closed last Tuesday when more than 25 percent of the students were absent, many with flu-like symptoms. The school still had nearly 10 percent absentees when it re-opened Monday, said headmaster Spencer Jordan.