- A nationwide alert has been sparked after three Dunedin
people each collapsed then died about an hour later from a mystery illness,
during the past three weeks.
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- They collapsed with little warning and all had haemorrhages
in their lungs, Dunedin Hospital intensive care medical director Dr Mace
Ramsay said last night.
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- While it was unknown if two of them had displayed any
symptoms before-hand, one had previously visited a doctor for an influenza-like
illness.
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- A man in his 40s died suddenly at home, a woman in her
50s in Dunedin Hospital, and a woman in her 40s died at home.
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- The three, who all lived within 5km of each other, had
died unexpectedly and had no known links, Dr Ramsay said.
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- Family and friends were being questioned to find out
if they had been linked in some way.
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- It was not known if their symptoms were caused by all
three having the same illness, if the cause was a virus or bacteria, or
if their illnesses were infectious or even contagious.
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- Dr Ramsay said he had only seen similar symptoms from
snake bites.
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- Tests had been run for almost every known virus with
no result so far. A suggestion the illness could be similar to Argentinian
leptospirosis was also a long shot.
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- Samples were being sent to the Centre for Disease Control
in Atlanta, the United States, for testing. The centre had suggested several
diseases, but they did not occur in New Zealand and none developed as rapidly.
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- Hospital staff became aware of the illness when the woman
in her 50s collapsed at home, was resuscitated, then brought to the hospital
where she died.
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- The pathologist who performed her post-mortem about 10
days ago told Dr Ramsay he had had a similar case the previous week. Then
the second woman died. The exact cause of all their deaths was yet to be
determined by the Coroner.
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- Dunedin Hospital said it was alerting the public because
it could take weeks to get all the test results, and if the public was
not alerted in the interim, "people would rightly say 'you haven't
done your job'."
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- An American study had shown people died suddenly for
never-determined reasons at a rate of .4 in 100,000 people, Dr Ramsay said.
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- Dunedin medical officer of health Dr John Holmes said
none of the three people had obvious risk factors and would not normally
be expected to die suddenly. All the deaths were within ten days, the first
more than two weeks ago.
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- People who had been in contact with the three had been
traced but because of the unusual nature of their deaths in a small geographic
area, Dunedin, "we are taking appropriate precautions".
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- The Otago District Health Board had reminded health professionals
to take care when dealing with patients who had collapsed, were in shock,
had suddenly developed breathing problems or had pneumonia. Precautions
included wearing a mask, gloves and gown.
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- To determine the illness' cause, samples were also being
tested in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington, Dr Holmes said.
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- The deaths have prompted the Ministry of Health to alert
family doctors and ask hospital emergency department staff nationwide to
report any recent and future cases of similar symptoms.
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- Director-General of Health Dr Karen Poutasi said the
three deaths could be a coincidence but care was being taken to ensure
risks were covered.
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- Some comfort could be gained from the very low number
of cases and lack of spread. That suggested if the illness was infectious,
it was not very contagious.
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- The ministry was checking to confirm the cases were isolated
and working with the Otago board to ensure the risk was managed.
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- The ministry was also providing expert advice to doctors
and nurses - to ensure all steps were taken to limit the disease's spread
- through the expert Infectious Diseases Technical Advisory Committee.
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- People who were ill should seek prompt medical advice,
Dr Poutasi said.
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- Health authorities said simple measures the public could
take included washing their hands thoroughly with soap and then drying
them after going to the toilet, sneezing or blowing their nose, and before
eating or touching their face.
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- People should also cover their mouth and nose when coughing
or sneezing, and not share drink bottles, lipsticks or cigarettes.
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- Otago board chief executive Brian Rousseau said people
who were ill should contact their family doctors first. The doctors could
refer them to the hospital emergency department if necessary.
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- Dr Holmes said later if people came to hospital and they
had the mystery illness, he hoped medical staff could support them through
the illness.
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- "Hopefully if they are in a hospital we can actually
do tests which might give us a clue," he told TV3 News.
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- "At the present...it's not been possible to get
some of the tests done on people while they were alive.
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- "If people came into hospital, by doing tests and
investigations and giving general support, hopefully they will recover."
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- Dr Holmes said he "would not like to hazard a guess"
as to how long it might take to determine the cause of the unexplained
deaths.
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- "We are hopeful that we'll find something, but I
think we need to bear in mind what experience elsewhere has shown, that
in many of these cases we may never know the cause of death."
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- http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2642086a10,00.html
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- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=
3520660&thesection=news&thesubsection=general
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