5 Children dead in VA

[mewoman]

This is hitting too close to home for me, especially since my own DD is sick :(


http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1142653



The Virginia Department of Health said Thursday it is investigating five deaths of children under the age of seven since Sunday. Four of the children were in Hampton Roads, the fifth in Richmond. At this time, no cause of death has been established and no link between the five deaths has been determined.

"They died unexpectedly, suddenly, and we're trying to figure out why," State Health Commissioner Robert B. Stoube told Richmond NBC Affiliate WWBT-TV Thursday evening.

In a news release distributed earlier in the day, Stroube said, "We are concerned about the recent deaths of these children, and we are rapidly investigating to determine the cause. Due to the preliminary findings in the investigation, it is very unlikely that this is due to bioterrorism."

WAVY News 10 has learned all of the children suffered from respiratory infections prior to their deaths. Two of the four local children where from Virginia Beach. The other two are only identified as 'military dependents.'

The Department of Health says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been notified of the deaths and the ongoing investigation.

"At a time when the nation is at a heightened state of alert, the Virginia Department of Health will take even more serious our normal monitoring of illness and fatality, looking for patterns and linkages," said Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Preparedness and Response Lisa Kaplowitz. "This is a part of an overall epidemiological strategy to detect and respond to health threats that are not a result of natural causes."

Although no link has been established to the deaths under investigation by the Department of Health, a letter from the Health Services Department of the Virginia Beach School System was distributed to parents of Trantwood Elementary students Thursday. The letter references the Wednesday death of a female Trantwood second-grader from complications related to pneumonia, and reminds parents of sick children to:

Wash hands often (both children's and caregiver's)
Cover mouth when coughing or sneezing
Watch for symptoms
Do not send child to school until fever-free for 24 hours
Trantwood Elementary is located in the Great Neck section of Virginia Beach


WAVY News 10 is following this developing story and will have more information in upcoming newscasts.

[John]

:( :( :(

[ahippiechic]

OMG, that is so sad! :(

[Tasha405]

:( :(

[ebgreen74]

hope they find out what the heck is going on and SOON-Im in Hampton Roads with 3 young kids here.

[mesue]

My greatnephew who is 14 but very small for his age is sick and has been running a fever of 104 degrees for 5-6 days, they have insurance but it does not cover ER, he got to the doctor Wed, Dr. could not figure out whats wrong and said if he was not any better he was going in the hospital friday. My niece has been giving him alcohol sponge baths and tylenol but temp has been staying around 104. This is really scary she did say he as coughing and that his neck was swollen. We are in Va. also.

[kybeauty]

This is very sad :(

[Quaker_Parrots]

That sounds like what is going on here, we have had 4 deaths statewide, and they have blamed it on complications from the flu. (the kids ended up with pneumonia)
sounds like the news media in your area is having a field day,

[mewoman]

Originally posted by taybai
That sounds like what is going on here, we have had 4 deaths statewide, and they have blamed it on complications from the flu. (the kids ended up with pneumonia)
sounds like the news media in your area is having a field day,


Taybai....this has nothing to do with the media and everything to do with 5 healthy children dying within 3 days of each other. 4 of them within 25 miles of each other. Otherwise, the CDC and State Health Dept. wouldn't be involved.

http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0221dea.html

Deaths of five children in four days spark investigation
By STEVE STONE, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 21, 2003

State and local health officials are investigating the sudden deaths of five children since Sunday, four of them in Hampton Roads.
``It's a very unusual occurrence to have five young children, who to our knowledge are healthy, have sudden deaths in this short time,'' said Dr. Robert B. Stroube, the state health commissioner.

Stroube urged parents not to panic.

``It may just be a purely chance event, and these cases may have absolutely nothing in common,'' Stroube said. Still, anyone with an ill child would be well advised to take normal precautions and see a physician, he said.

The investigation was launched Thursday after the State Medical Examiner's office in Norfolk alerted state health officials that it had four cases of sudden death -- two from Virginia Beach and one each from Portsmouth and Hampton. Richmond's medical examiner then reported a similar death there.


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Four of the five children are girls, Stroube said Thursday night. All are between the ages of 2 and 7. Two of them are believed to be military dependents.

It's unclear if the two Virginia Beach deaths include a Trantwood Elementary School student who died this week from pneumonia. School officials sent a letter home notifying parents Thursday.

None of the children had been hospitalized, Stroube said, though the parents of some of them had sought medical attention.

``Our preliminary investigation shows that most of the children had upper respiratory infections,'' Stroube said, ``colds, earaches, that sort of stuff. Nothing major.''

Stroube said autopsies have been done on all the victims and that a wide variety of tests are now being conducted. As the results of those tests come in, more specific kinds of testing may be required. Because of that, Stroube said, there was no way for him to estimate how long it would take to figure out what -- if anything -- is going on.

``The main thing is we have to find out the cause of death,'' he said.

``If these deaths had occurred over six weeks, we probably wouldn't even have taken note of this,'' Stroube said.

He said the state has notified the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. A CDC epidemiologist based in Virginia is participating in the investigation, which includes a variety of state and local health professionals.

Stroube said the families of the children are being interviewed and that investigators will ``see if there is anything in common that they have with other people who are ill where they may have been.''

The investigation also will include a check with local schools and hospitals

[Quaker_Parrots]

Wasn't trying to discredit the part of it being shocking that the children died,or that it was totally unexpected(sorry for that)
the main part of my comment was actually directed toward this:


"At a time when the nation is at a heightened state of alert, the Virginia Department of Health will take even more serious our normal monitoring of illness and fatality, looking for patterns and linkages,"

The media has been awful lately about planting the seed of terrorism doubt, and I was just saying it sounds like they are at it again.

I am very sorry for the parents that have lost their babies, but I think the media needs to slack off some,(like the plastic and duct tape craze)

I also apologize if I came across badly, or am doing so now.

It really does sound like maybe these children are victims of the flu

http://wzzm13.com/searchcurrentdefault.asp?cmd=view&articleid=5719
http://wzzm13.com/searchcurrentdefault.asp?cmd=view&articleid=5803
http://wzzm13.com/searchcurrentdefault.asp?cmd=view&articleid=5871
http://wzzm13.com/searchcurrentdefault.asp?cmd=view&articleid=5899

[Juggalette]

(Grand Rapids, February 19, 2003, 6:05 p.m.) A third West Michigan child has died after battling a flu-like illness.

Two year old Jack Henry Williams of Fremont died last Friday. Six other children have died in recent weeks after similar symptoms. They live in Kentwood, Hastings and on the east side of the state.

Flu-like symptoms are common this time of year, but parents should still be on alert. Most of the time, people with those symptoms get better, but not always. We've seen that in the unexpected death of a little boy in Fremont and in the deaths of East Kentwood High School sophomore Billy Joe Green III and 11 year old Ashley Racine of Hastings.

"Generally we would see this in the 60 and older group that might have weakage of their immune system, to have children getting this and staying stick with it is uncommon," says Dr. Tammy Born, of the Born Preventive Health Care Clinic.

Many people are turning to their family doctor for advice. Symptoms to watch for include high fever, altered mental state, neck soreness, bleeding problems, breathing difficulty and severe headaches.

Dr. Born says preventive moves like vitamins, lots of water and plenty of sleep can help.

"The best recommendation I think is don't wait so long. If your child is sick more than two days, get them into a doctor and make sure it's just a flu virus and that is hasn't progressed," says Dr. Born.

Information on testing and treatment of the flu is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

For more information:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5103.pdf

I live here ,, in Kentwood , all four of my kids last week , had HIGH fevers , coughing , running noses , headaches , ect.. they would not even get out of bed . All of them are better now except for my two year old dd . She is still coughing but nothing serious and no more fevers .

[morris2b]

Heard on news that a 13 yr old 8th grader from Kiski Jr High here in Pa was hospitalized for bacterial menangitis, I am not sure what this is but am going to be researching it here in a few minutes.......

This is scary as I have 2 children that are in the system here and I will do what I have to do to protect them...
Here is a link to the article on this:

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/1995605/detail.html

[jademyst13]

OMG How did I miss that on pilotonline? I'm in VA Beach, I don't have kids though.

[CAMSmama]

This scares me also, I live in Norfolk, and my 7yr old has severe asthma. He has been fighting off the flu and I just hope & pray he doesn't get any worse, there have been a couple of times that he has gotten sicker AFTER going to the doctors because the farking naval hospital doesn't have separate areas for sick/well kids.

[mewoman]

I told ya before CAms....I quit qoing there and it was soooooo worth it. You can still get meds on base if you go to a civilian doc.

Anyway, I know where you're at with a young child and asthma. Luckily, Anthony has mostly grown out of his, but he was real bad at that age too.

[ebgreen74]

the naval hospital sucks-!! I refuse to go there ever again-its even worse than the airforce drs which aren't much better.

[mesue]

I'm bumping this since too me it sounds so much like they are describing SARs but this all happened a few months before Sars was heard of, what do you guys think?

[twinkiesmom]

Originally posted by mesue
I'm bumping this since too me it sounds so much like they are describing SARs but this all happened a few months before Sars was heard of, what do you guys think?

First thing I thought of was SARS when I read the first cpl of posts to this thread. Then I looked at the date of the original post.

[mesue]

Originally posted by twinkiesmom
First thing I thought of was SARS when I read the first cpl of posts to this thread. Then I looked at the date of the original post.

Yep it sounds exactly like Sars, I swear if you read about the past history of the government experimenting on unsuspecting individuals including children this is a terrifying thought. http://www.geocities.com/lord_visionary/populationcontrolagenda2.htm
I wonder if there were any news releases about what the connecting link was between all these deaths. Just so you know I'm not giving you information that is not been verified my own husband was in the service at the time they were shooting the military full of experimental drugs and also it was released that one of those drugs was an altered version of bubonic plague, this is scary stuff so this experimentation using unsuspecting people has affected my life. Its not been that long ago it was in a bill to make the government not liable for testing on the American public, it did not pass but just the fact that it was there tells me that they are probably still doing this.

[mewoman]

I really don't think this was SARS. SARS is spreading rapidly and easily transmitted. These kids were not isolated from others, yet, no drs, nurses or staff contracted it.

[Maeryn]

This is too sad. I hope they find out what's going on soon.

[mesue]

Originally posted by mewoman
I really don't think this was SARS. SARS is spreading rapidly and easily transmitted. These kids were not isolated from others, yet, no drs, nurses or staff contracted it.

I thought the same thing but then got to thinking if this is the same type of virus add it to some sort of germ that is easly transmitted and bingo you got something very similar to sars. I know I'm probably certifiable crazy but then looking at the past record and its very scary. Discovery channel had a show on about how a virus was put in a separate exhaust system of a car and whenever the driver pushed the button the virus was released, they were inserted inside light bulbs and these light bulbs were broken on the traintracks then the heat from the train made the virus rise up affect everyone on the train. This is the same show I saw about how the military was given injections up until 1975, hubby said boot camp they lined them up constantly to get injections if you asked what they were for you got 2, hubby's shot record was supposedly lost and to get back in the country he had to have a whole new round of shots. They lost our medical records when we left the service even though we had just been there the day before and returned them ourselves to records, a few years back they contacted us concerning a medical matter where I had given birth on the military base apparently they can find them when its convenient. If I recall correctly the Hong Kong Flu was one of these viruses released upon the public, I had this for 6 weeks nearly died, had I not been living with my parents at the time I don't know what I would have done my daughter was just a baby and I could not even take care of myself I was so sick. At any rate the people they talked to about their knowingly releasing the viruses at the time and took part in it said they did not know exactly what kind of an impact it would have on the public it was just do it and see.

[Willow]

That is so scary. I hope they find out soon what is going on and causing all of this sickness.