Re: The dead children thread
Re: The dead children thread
From #280; hattip Pathfinder:
Swine flu claims neat local 5-year-old
KYREE GAMBLE
BY JOHN MESSEDER
Times Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 7:30 AM EST
Five-year-old Kyree James Gamble died Saturday at Hershey Medical Center, the first swine flu death in Adams County.
The Littlestown boy and his mother, Marci Place, were visiting in Virginia when Kyree became sick and they decided to return home. At first, the return trip was simply cautionary. According to family friend and employer Megan Shreve, the little guy was running a low grade fever, and had no sore throat or headache to indicate his apparent illness was serious.
?Everything seemed like he was just not feeling well,? Shreve said.
But by the time they arrived home, Kyree was worse, so she took him to the Gettysburg Emergency Room. From there he was sent by helicopter to Hershey where, three weeks later, he succumbed.
He left his mother and 14-year-old brother Jordan. They are preparing to move back to Gettysburg from Littlestown.
?She just doesn?t want to live in that house,? Shreve said, adding ?Gettysburg is their home.?
?He was an amazing kid,? she said Monday. ?He was only five, but he was always older than that.?
Shreve said he was always helping, often when other kids were playing. He wanted to help fix a motorcycle, or carry the largest table. When a farmer was giving hayrides, Kyree was the one taking tickets and arranging the hay bales.
?He was just a really neat, neat kid,? Shreve said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 22 flu-related pediatric deaths in the week ending Oct. 30. Nineteen of them have been confirmed caused by the H1N1 virus. The CDC reports on its web site (
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm) that since April it has received reports of 114 laboratory-confirmed pediatric 2009 H1N1 deaths and another 12 pediatric deaths that were laboratory confirmed as influenza, but where the flu virus subtype was not determined.
The illness is highly contagious, and can be deadly.
But most people stricken by the H1N1 virus get over it within three to five days, according to Dr. Charles Marley, vice president for medical affairs at Gettysburg Hospital and chairman of the York/Adams Metropolitan Medical Response System. YAMMRS is coordinating distribution of the H1N1 vaccine in York and Adams counties.
?There are people who die from this disease,? Marley said Tuesday afternoon, ?but it?s less than one percent.?
H1N1 first appeared in Adams County in April. In typical flu manner, it receded for several months, but came back in a second wave when youngsters began school in September. Gettysburg Hospital Emergency Department saw about 10 cases a day through August, but in September, the number began to rise. The third wave peaked the week of Oct 16, at about 43 cases a day, then began to decrease again. On October 29, the Gettysburg ED worked with 10 flu patients.
?We don?t know there won?t be a fourth wave (during the winter),? Marley said.
But he pointed out the human body?s ability to become immune to viruses that it has dealt with and beaten.
?The more people who get this, the more people are immune,? he said, adding that vaccinations, as they come available, will increase the number of people immune to the virus.
Although hospitals and area doctors no longer test all flu patients for H1N1, Marley said the number of people in Adams who have had it likely number in the tens of thousands. That is because the majority of flu sufferers do not appear in the Emergency Department. Instead, they go to their family doctor or an area clinic ? or simply stay home and ride it out.
?The vast majority of people with H1N1 we send home, most of them without a tamiflu prescription? said Dr. William J. Steinour, medical director of the Gettysburg Hospital Emergency Department.
He said children often are brought in by their parents, who typically tell the ED staff, ?I don?t want to take any chances.?
But he said the effort is to try to discourage all but the most serious cases.
?Out Number One mission is to tke care of people with serious illness,? he said.
For example, ?If your child is breathing fast and looks like he?s struggling for breath, he needs to see a doctor soon,? Steinour said.
Other indicators are fever and cough without known pre-existing problems, chest pains or altered mental state. Although the symptoms could apply to other serious illnesses, as well, the latter may be a significant indicator in a child.
?I?m more worried about the quiet kid,? Marley said, noting most children will keep playing, in spite of illness.
He said the best person to define the seriousness of an illness often is the parent.
?You?ve seen your kid sick before,? he said. ?Now all of a sudden you?re worried (about the different way the illness is affecting the child).?
?Now its time to seek attention,? said Marley.
He complimented area primary care providers for ?double booking patients? and keeping their offices open extended hours.
?We certainly appreciate all the effort on the part of the primary care practices,? he said, noting the resulting ?reduced load on the ER.?
He said Upper Adams School District youngsters likely will receive the vaccine starting Nov. 9.
?We expect to get enough in to start an Adams and York county school district at the same time the week of Nov. 16,? he said.
After that vaccine shipments are expected ?about every week to ten days and ? we plan to do both an Adams County and York County school at the same time, based on availability of vaccine and volunteers.?
He said volunteers are not expected to be a problem ? ?We have almost 800 volunteers signed up for YAMMRS right now.?
Schools will be selected by lottery until all have received the vaccine. Marley said schools and age groups will be announced in the media, and anyone who has not been afflicted should get the vaccine when it is available. It does not cure the illness, but it does prevent it.
http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/artic...0739682991.txt
