Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=11110132

Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions
Posted: Sep 10, 2009 4:58 PM EST Updated: Sep 10, 2009 6:37 PM EST

By Caroline Moses - bio | email

LIVINGSTON, LOUISIANA (WAFB) - One Louisiana mother is grieving because her teenage daughter became one of the state's six deaths related to swine flu. Just a senior in high school, Taylor Brian had her whole life ahead of her.

Taylor Brian was by all accounts a typical teenage girl. It's the most confusing and troubling part of all this for her family.

"Taylor swam all the time," said her mom, Ruthie Brian.

19-year-old Taylor Brian was a senior at Denham Springs High School. She was focused on getting ready for the prom when something else took hold of her. At first she was treated for run-of-the-mill strep throat.

"She got better over the weekend. She felt better," said Ruthie.

Once Taylor recovered, her mom Ruthie let her get back to more exciting things like planning for prom.

"Taylor was unbelievable, amazing. You can ask anyone," she said.

A few days after returning to school, Taylor started feeling sick again, so Taylor's family took her back to the doctor.

"We went back, and she didn't get any better. Then, she was diagnosed with bronchitis and we treated that, so I don't think you can visit the doctor any more often than we did," said Taylor's uncle Terry Root.

Eventually, Taylor was sent to the hospital and put into intensive care. It was after three negative tests for Type A flu and days after her pneumonia diagnosis that doctors finally found she was infected with the H1N1 virus or swine flu.

"By the time they were treating Taylor for H1N1 it was long past the effective period for the medicine,' said Root.

Taylor's mom wonders what if strep throat compromised her immune system, making her more susceptible to swine flu? What if Taylor was treated for the flu sooner. Would treatments like tamiflu have saved her? The unanswered questions are why Ruthie says she feels compelled to share Taylor's story.

"She would want us to help someone else. That would be her.," said Ruthie.

Since Taylor's death state health officials have significantly sped up the process for getting flu test results back. Taylor's family hopes researchers and doctors continue to learn more about this virus. To that end, Taylor's mother gave all of her daughter's medical records over to doctors.

?2009 WAFB. All rights

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/livingston_tangipahoa/57668737.html?showAll=y&c=y

Mother: Swine flu not diagnosed until 2 days before death

* By SANDY DAVIS
* Advocate staff writer
* Published: Sep 8, 2009 - Page: 1A

The 19-year-old Denham Springs woman who died Saturday from swine flu had been tested three times for Type A influenza since she first became ill Aug. 20, her mother said.

Each time, the test came back negative.

It wasn’t until she was hospitalized that she was tested specifically for swine flu, which was confirmed Thursday.

Two days later, Taylor Whitney Brian, a senior at Denham Springs High School, became the fourth person to die in Louisiana from swine flu or swine flu complications.

She died at Baton Rouge General Medical Center-Bluebonnet, where she had been treated since Aug. 29, said Ruthie Brian, her mother.

“My daughter was a healthy, vibrant young girl. She did not have any underlying illness,” Brian said. “She went from being a healthy child one minute to this. It’s just so hard to believe.”

Bill Spear, superintendent of the Livingston Parish school system, said Monday that “School will be open on Tuesday and counselors will be on hand to help students deal with the death of our student.”

He also said the district is taking every precaution to try and prevent other students from becoming infected.

“We’re fortunate that no students have been on campus for three days because of the holiday weekend,” he said.

Spear said district employees were at the high school Monday “wiping down desks, doorknobs and other common areas where students frequent.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site, “swine flu is only contact viable for two to eight hours,” Spear said.

“But we’d rather err on the side of caution,” he said.

Ruthie Brian said that when her daughter first became sick on Aug. 20, she took her to the doctor and was told her daughter had strep throat. She was given antibiotics.

The doctor also tested the teen to see if she had the flu, Brian said.

The test came back negative, Brian said.

The rapid flu test is generally performed in a doctor’s office to determine whether a patient has Type A flu, Type B flu or does not have the flu.

Swine flu, or novel H1N1 as it is also known, is one of several strains of Type A flu.
State health officials have said they assume anyone who tests positive for Type A flu has swine flu.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals is no longer testing for swine flu unless a patient with flu symptoms is hospitalized or the patient’s doctor is one of the state’s sentinel physicians, a group of doctor’s across the state asked by DHH to help monitor the outbreak.

In recent months, private laboratories have been certified by the state to conduct the tests, and some doctors are using these laboratories.

Taylor Brian went back to school Aug. 24 and 25.

By Aug. 26, she told her mother she didn’t feel well and stayed home from school.

Over the next few days, Ruthie Brian took her daughter back to the doctor two more times and each time the doctor tested her for Type A flu.

“And each time the tests came back negative,” Ruthie Brian said.

Taylor Brian became so sick on Aug. 29, her doctor sent her to the hospital.

“She didn’t feel good during the first few days she was in the hospital, but she was still talking and sending text messages to her friends and watching TV,” Ruthie Brian said.

In her first few days at the hospital, doctors tested Taylor Brian twice for swine flu, but the samples had to be sent to out-of-town laboratories and the results weren’t going to be back for five to 14 days, Ruthie Brian said.

“It was frustrating,” Brian said. “We thought all along she had swine flu.”

By Monday night, doctors decided to begin treating the teenager for swine flu, Brian said.

“They started giving her Tamiflu,” Brian said of the anti-viral drug used to treat the symptoms of swine flu.

State health officials, however, have said Tamiflu works only if it is given within the first 24 to 48 hours of the onset of flu symptoms.

In the middle of the night on Sept. 1, Taylor Brian started having trouble breathing and she was taken to the intensive care unit, her mother said.

Doctors decided to take a third swine flu sample, and this time they found a laboratory in Baton Rouge that could perform the test and return the results within a few days.

“On Thursday, we were told Taylor tested positive for swine flu,” Brian said. “We were relieved because we knew she was being treated for swine flu and this also explained why there was this horrendous attack on her lungs. We thought she would be all right.”

Brian said doctors said at first her daughter would recover, but it might take awhile.
“I just told them that my baby needed to be all right by prom,” Brian said. “She lived and breathed her senior year. It was the highlight of this child’s life.”

But early Saturday morning, Taylor Brian died.

“She died from pneumonia,” Ruthie Brian said. “If you get swine flu, you can get the complication of pneumonia.”

Brian said she does not blame the doctors.

“They did everything they could,” Brian said. “The flu tests kept coming back negative. What else could they have done?”

Public information from DHH over individual deaths from swine flu has been minimal. Even Spear said he had not been contacted by DHH over Taylor Brian’s death.

Ruthie Brian said she has a warning for other parents.

“When your child first has flu symptoms, don’t get them tested for the regular flu,” she said. “Get them tested specifically for swine flu.

“I don’t want to see another child suffer like Taylor did,” she said.

 

[cmmc]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

Time line - This is another preventable death.

(Aug. 20) Ruthie Brian said that when her daughter first became sick on Aug. 20, she took her to the doctor and was told her daughter had strep throat. She was given antibiotics. The doctor also tested the teen to see if she had the flu, Brian said.
The test came back negative, Brian said.

(Aug. 24) Taylor Brian went back to school Aug. 24 and 25.

(Aug. 26) she told her mother she didn’t feel well and stayed home from school.
Over the next few days, Ruthie Brian took her daughter back to the doctor two more times and each time the doctor tested her for Type A flu.“And each time the tests came back negative,” Ruthie Brian said.

(Aug. 29) Taylor Brian became so sick, her doctor sent her to the hospital.
“She didn’t feel good during the first few days she was in the hospital, but she was still talking and sending text messages to her friends and watching TV,” Ruthie Brian said.
In her first few days at the hospital, doctors tested Taylor Brian twice for swine flu, but the samples had to be sent to out-of-town laboratories and the results weren’t going to be back for five to 14 days, Ruthie Brian said.“It was frustrating,” Brian said. “We thought all along she had swine flu.”

(Aug. 31) By Monday night, doctors decided to begin treating the teenager for swine flu, Brian said. “They started giving her Tamiflu,” Brian said of the anti-viral drug used to treat the symptoms of swine flu. State health officials, however, have said Tamiflu works only if it is given within the first 24 to 48 hours of the onset of flu symptoms.

(Sept. 1) Taylor Brian started having trouble breathing and she was taken to the intensive care unit, her mother said. Doctors decided to take a third swine flu sample, and this time they found a laboratory in Baton Rouge that could perform the test and return the results within a few days.

(Sept. 3) “On Thursday, we were told Taylor tested positive for swine flu,” Brian said. “We were relieved because we knew she was being treated for swine flu and this also explained why there was this horrendous attack on her lungs. We thought she would be all right.”

(Sept. 5) But early Saturday morning, Taylor Brian died.

 

[lulu2]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

I am not one to subscribe to conspiracy theories...but....Isn't it rather odd that we keep reading these cases? Why in the heck would these people and children not initially be checked for Swine Flu? It seems almost purposeful....or ignorant...I am hoping for ignorant, at least that is somewhat forgiveable....

Can one of you Dr.s here shed some light on the reasoning here?

 

[tesseract]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

Not a doctor, but can tell you what my doctor explained to me in regards to testing.

My husband got sick Tuesday morning - scratchy throat. By lunch he was asking me to get him an appointment (rare for him) because in his words "his lungs felt like they were filling up". Couldn't get him in until Wednesday morning. He came home and got in bed. Aches, cough, low fever (not high), he felt it was like a really bad respiratory infection.

Stayed in bed until he went to the doctor the next morning. Tested positive for Strep (??!!) and Negative for Flu. Now, he didn't look like he had Strep...no funky stuff on back of throat, his throat didn't even hurt that much really. But his cough was terrible, his chest burned, etc...They gave him antibiotics for strep. He LOOKED like flu, but because flu test was negative, he was not treated for it. They had no 'reason' to give him tamiflu.

He's been home all week.

I had a slight scratch in my throat yesterday, woke up this morning and my throat is quite sore and I have a slight cough - deep cough, but not serious like his was (at least, not as frequent). So I went to the doctor this morning because figure this is strep since hubby tested positive two days ago and I don't want to risk not treating strep and then getting the flu. Also, I accidentally burned my hand this past weekend on the stove and it seems to be slightly infected, my whole arm was hurting in the middle of the night - figured I needed something for that anyway. And, finally, I have a kid at home who has a pre-existing heart condition and really want to know what I'm dealing with. Really struggled with the thought of going to the doctor and being anywhere NEAR people with the flu though!

So I go to the Dr - they tested me for strep - it was NEGATIVE!!

No flu test given.

The reason? I don't have flu 'symptoms' - just a really bad sore throat. The doctor looks at my throat and says it does look extremely red so here's a script..

I said "So, I don't need a flu test to rule that out?" (I was a little shocked that the strep test was negative and was trying to wrap my head around this). She said no flu test because:

a) I didn't "look" like I had the flu (I agree, I don't)

b) she could pretty much tell the test would come back negative because "the ONLY ones that were coming back positive were the ones where the patient had a HIGH FEVER". (I live in North Mississippi where there is widespread activity right now and a LOT of actual "positive" cases).

I pointed out that these tests were only about 50% sensitive - she said yes, she agreed, but that she had not had "one come back positive in the absence of fever", usually a high fever. I pointed out that this flu doesn't necessarily present with classic symptoms of fever.

She said she would test me if I 'demanded' it, but that meant me going and sitting with the 'ILI' patients waiting on throat swabs.

I decided that if I didn't have the flu, I sure didn't want to risk GETTING it by sitting with those isolated for it.

So, we agreed that if I got worse during the day I'd come back this afternoon/first thing in the morning for additional testing. She did say that if I got worse, and came in for the flu swab, and it was negative, she would still do other lab work (CBC, etc.) to try to determine if there appeared to be a viral load and if so, she'd treat it as 'flu' anyway (read: Tamiflu). This seemed like a decent meeting of the minds so I left with my antibiotics and am now home, feeling worse as the day goes - but mainly just aches...No fever.

(On a side note, the nurse that triaged me was sick - she actually coughed on me - no mask, etc - I sort of jumped back and said "Are you sick?" "Yes, for two days now" she says...I backed away and she said "It's not swine, my test was negative"- I just stared at her blankly so she got defensive and said "Fine, I'll get someone ELSE to triage you". I said thank you. In my mind, if I had strep, the last thing I wanted was flu...yes I know that sounds stupid since I was at the Dr. office, but what to do? I did tell them that on the front end, and in their defense, they didn't isolate me with all the folks with flu symptoms - but I was aggravated at this nurse...then on the way home, I realized - heck what if I did have the flu, and I was infecting HER?? No way to win this is there? A lesson for me there as well - on both sides!)

 

[FloridaMom]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

I hope you and your husband recover quickly. Thanks for sharing your story and get well!

 

[Chuck]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

I'm no doctor either, but as I understand it, the specific test for H1N1 is a PCR test that is time consuming, and there are a limited number of labs that can run the test. They want to get results asap for the hospitalized cases, and so don't want to create a backlog by taking samples from non-severe cases.

Also, the test is expensive, several hundred dollars, and most insurance will not cover it since it not recommended in the guidelines.

 

[Niko]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

See this thread for more background on testing: Quick Tests for the Flu Found Often Inaccurate

 

[lulu2]

Re: Family of young swine flu victim grieves and asks questions

K...from what I am reading, it is basically a mail out swab test, correct, I mean it is not even a blood draw? Right? Is that really such a hassle? You wouldn't do blood cultures, from what I remember, for viral right?