Free Republic

By Bradley FloryStaff Writer Parents began calling Frost Elementary School and the Jackson County Health Department as word spread of the death of 9-year-old Natalie H. Emmons. They wanted to know one thing: Should we worry about our children? Emmons, a fourth-grader at Frost, died Thursday after being sick with flu-like symptoms. She had a seizure and then cardiac arrest. She is at least the eighth child in Michigan to die in the last month after a flu-like illness. Her death comes as Jackson County is at the peak of flu season. "We don't want parents to panic, but we...

CDC reacts to deaths with alert to officials By STEVE STONE AND MICHELLE MIZAL-ARCHER , The Virginian-Pilot © February 23, 2003 Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are alerting every state health agency to watch for child deaths similar to those that have occurred in recent weeks in Virginia, Michigan and Ohio. So far, the CDC has received reports of at least 14 children nationally who have died suddenly after experiencing upper respiratory infections and fevers. The alert is entirely routine, a CDC spokeswoman said Saturday. Local, state and federal officials said there is still...

Pediatric offices and emergency rooms in Hampton Roads were jammed Friday with parents anxious to make sure their children's fevers and runny noses weren't life-threatening, as health investigators continued to study the unexplained deaths of five children in five days. ``I took off work to bring my daughter in,'' said Mashiah Mitchell, who brought his 4-year-old daughter, Asha, to Renaissance Pediatrics in Chesapeake because she had a fever. ``I got alarmed when I heard the news about the children dying.'' The fears were triggered by an investigation launched Thursday by the Virginia Department of Health into the deaths of four...

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...

Health officials seek answers in deaths of five local children By STEVE STONE, The Virginian-Pilot © February 21, 2003 Last updated 8:58 PM Feb. 20 The Virginia Department of Health is working with local health officials to see if there is any common cause in the deaths of five children that have occurred in as many days. Four of the children died in Hampton Roads, one in Richmond. All of the children were 7 or younger and all suffered from upper respiratory infections. ``We are concerned about the recent deaths of these children, and we are rapidly investigating to determine...

RICHMOND, Feb. 21 -- Five children who died in southeast Virginia in the past week had no contact with each other and did not attend the same schools or take similar medicines, according to state health officials, who also dismissed bioterrorism as a cause of the mysterious deaths. The five boys and girls -- from Richmond, Hampton, Virginia Beach, and Portsmouth -- had one thing in common before their unexpected deaths: an apparent viral infection that caused flu-like symptoms, including sore throat, wheezing, coughing, ear infections, and low-grade fevers