Maputo,MZ /Durban, ZA: Illness behind death of Mercy flight girl still unclear

[Emily]

http://www.thepost.co.za/dramatic-air-rescue-brings-children-home-1.1625337#.Usckq_vtrMo

Dramatic air rescue brings children home

December 20 2013 at 01:35pm
By NOSIPHO MNGOMA

Durban - Two eManzimtoti children suspected of contracting a mystery bacterial infection while on holiday in Mozambique are being treated at a Durban hospital after a dramatic air rescue mission on Thursday.
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The doctors told her it was a bacterial infection, but they did not know which bacteria it was. The antibiotics prescribed for her did not have the desired effect and she too was admitted on Wednesday night.

?They were given all sorts of vaccines but nothing helped,? Fourie said...
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EMS spokesman, Robert McKenzie, said a doctor from the Albert Luthuli Hospital had joined the flight paramedics and the air ambulance had to be equipped with additional medical supplies.

They were also armed with ?aircraft cabin insecticide?, which they needed to spray in the cabin when they returned to King Shaka International Airport before opening the doors, McKenzie said, ?in case insects from Mozambique managed to get on board the aircraft and were brought into South Africa on the flight?. ..

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/mystery-illness-kills-mercy-flight-girl-1.1626154#.UscNGfvtrMo

Mystery illness kills mercy flight girl

December 23 2013 at 02:39pm
By BHEKI MBANJWA AND MPUME MADLALA

DAILY NEWS

The Fouries pictured during a visit to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital by Health MEC, Sibongiseni Dhlomo. Photo: Gcina Ndwalane.

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Dramatic air rescue brings children home

Durban - One of the two eManzimtoti children airlifted from a Mozambique hospital last week has died from a bacterial infection.

Lianja van Rhyn, 8, died at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital on Sunday morning after failing to respond to treatment.

Her brother Tian Fourie, 12, is in a stable condition. He is in isolation and his family are only allowed to look at him through a glass window.

Medical staff wear specialised suits and masks in the ward...

http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/specialists-tried-hard-to-save-girl-1.1626273#.UscjefvtrMp

Specialists tried hard to save girl

December 24 2013 at 09:00am
By BHEKI MBANJWA
Lianja van Rhyn

Lianja van Rhyn

Durban -

A drug-resistant strain of a bacterial infection has been identified as the possible infection contracted by two eManzimtoti children who had to be airlifted from a Mozambican hospital last week.
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Dr Sibongile Zungu, head of the KZN health department, was more cautious, saying her department would wait for the autopsy and other test results before pronouncing on cause of death or the type of bacterial infection.

?It is obvious that there is an infection but we cannot say conclusively what it is.

?What we know is that it is a fast-growing virulent infection, meaning it has been spreading fast in the children?s bodies.?

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/mercy-flight-kids-were-exposed-to-mumps-1.1626979

Mercy flight kids were exposed to mumps

December 27 2013 at 02:59pm
By Mpume Madlala

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He said when he returned to the hospital the next day, he was informed by Fourie that the children were going to be airlifted to Durban.

?This was on Thursday morning at 8am. They were diagnosed with Staphylococcus Aureus 12. And the cure was an antibiotic called Linozolid. They just needed to start the administration,? he said.
...

http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/kwazulu-natal/moz-airlift-boy-told-of-sister-s-death-1.1627235#.UscNGfvtrMo

Moz airlift boy told of sister?s death

December 29 2013 at 03:33pm
By VIVIAN ATTWOOD
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While it has been widely reported in the media that the siblings and their father were infected with a drug-resistant strain of the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, a medical microbiologist at Durban?s Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine yesterday said: ?No test results have come back yet and this is pure speculation.? ...