UC Davis vet clinic issues flu warning after worker's death
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
cpeytondahlberg@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 2B
The large animal clinic at UC Davis' veterinary hospital is warning employees to take basic health precautions after the sudden death this week of a clerical worker who had reported flu-like symptoms.
It will be a week or more before doctors know whether Jennifer Lee Zeka, 40, of Woodland had H1N1 or anything else contagious.
The clinic decided to alert her co-workers because she had reported feeling achy and feverish when she phoned in sick, said John Madigan, the clinic's associate director.
"The right thing to do is share it," Madigan said, because many colleagues might have come into contact with her, and some of them might want to consult their own doctors.
Zeka was found dead at her Woodland apartment Monday, according to a summary posted on the UC Davis swine flu Web site.
Madigan said Zeka had worked every day the previous week but phoned her supervisor on Sunday saying she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be in on Monday.
He learned of Zeka's death Tuesday and consulted with campus and Yolo County health officials before notifying her co-workers.
The large animal clinic, which employs about 150 people, has had a few other people out sick last week and this week, but the numbers are not out of the ordinary, he added.
The new H1N1 swine flu has been circulating actively this summer in Yolo County and around the United States, and some health authorities are assuming most cases of summer flu are probably H1N1.
Zeka had asthma and was obese, said her father, Timothy Zeka. Both can make it tougher to survive this flu. He said his daughter, who grew up in Davis, had achieved her "lifelong dream" to work for a veterinary medical center. Funeral services are pending.
http://www.sacbee.com/273/story/2086999.html
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg
cpeytondahlberg@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 2B
The large animal clinic at UC Davis' veterinary hospital is warning employees to take basic health precautions after the sudden death this week of a clerical worker who had reported flu-like symptoms.
It will be a week or more before doctors know whether Jennifer Lee Zeka, 40, of Woodland had H1N1 or anything else contagious.
The clinic decided to alert her co-workers because she had reported feeling achy and feverish when she phoned in sick, said John Madigan, the clinic's associate director.
"The right thing to do is share it," Madigan said, because many colleagues might have come into contact with her, and some of them might want to consult their own doctors.
Zeka was found dead at her Woodland apartment Monday, according to a summary posted on the UC Davis swine flu Web site.
Madigan said Zeka had worked every day the previous week but phoned her supervisor on Sunday saying she wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be in on Monday.
He learned of Zeka's death Tuesday and consulted with campus and Yolo County health officials before notifying her co-workers.
The large animal clinic, which employs about 150 people, has had a few other people out sick last week and this week, but the numbers are not out of the ordinary, he added.
The new H1N1 swine flu has been circulating actively this summer in Yolo County and around the United States, and some health authorities are assuming most cases of summer flu are probably H1N1.
Zeka had asthma and was obese, said her father, Timothy Zeka. Both can make it tougher to survive this flu. He said his daughter, who grew up in Davis, had achieved her "lifelong dream" to work for a veterinary medical center. Funeral services are pending.
http://www.sacbee.com/273/story/2086999.html