More on the Dunedin pneumonia and bleeding lungs deaths. It seems they were sicker for longer than was previously reported and had been seeking treatment for flu-like symptoms: nzherald.co.nz
<30.08.2003
By ANGELA GREGORY and MARTIN JOHNSTON
A Dunedin woman complained of flu-like symptoms not long before her 12-year-old daughter heard a thump and found her dead on the floor of their home.
Julie Millan died suddenly last Friday at her home in the central Dunedin suburb of Mornington from what is thought to have been a pulmonary haemorrhage - bleeding in the lungs.
The 46-year-old housewife's death is similar to that of two other west Dunedin residents who died this month with unexplained lung haemorrhages.
But deadly coincidence is considered the most likely explanation for the sudden cluster of mystery deaths.
The three were unknown to one another and lived several kilometres apart. They had no obvious risk factors and were people who were not likely to die suddenly.
Disease experts and health officials, keen to avoid flooding hospitals with needlessly anxious patients, say tests have discounted Sars and a range of other illnesses. They say it is highly unlikely the three died of an infectious disease.
Preliminary autopsy results blame pneumonia and bleeding in the lungs.
Julie Millan's husband, John, told the Weekend Herald his wife had always enjoyed excellent health.
Even that Friday, while feeling a little under the weather, she had been getting ready for a "night in and a few wines".
She had mentioned to their daughter that she thought she might be getting the flu and had complained of chest pains.
"Soon after, my daughter heard a thump upstairs and went up to find her mother collapsed on the floor."
Mr Millan said his wife had also text-messaged their son about her flu-like symptoms.
He said he had been scared for his three young children when health officials told him on Thursday night of their concerns about the mystery illness.
Mr Millan originally believed his wife had most likely died of a heart attack.
His family were desperate to know what was behind the three similar deaths, he said.
The first was that of Vincente Rawson, on August 12 at nearby Carlton Hill.
The 39-year-old married meatworker and father of one collapsed and died at his home.
His wife did not want to comment yesterday but his father, Keith Rawson of Oamaru, confirmed that it was the first case of the mysterious illness.
"The reports read exactly as the situation was ... We do not know more than what was reported."
Health authorities said Mr Rawson's death was not related to his job as a boner, as the abattoir where he worked was in its off-season.
Robyn Campbell, 56, of Abbotsford in south Dunedin, was the second case, dying at Dunedin Hospital the day before Mrs Millan.
Her husband of 35 years, David Campbell, said that earlier that day, his wife went to the doctor thinking she had the flu.
She was prescribed antibiotics but her condition deteriorated once she returned home, and she collapsed.
The Health Ministry, which issued a national alert on Thursday, said medical officers of health around the country had found no more cases of the mystery condition.
But a student nurse who treated one of the Dunedin patients was discharged from Dunedin Hospital yesterday after being admitted overnight to an isolation ward as a precaution.
She had a bad case of flu and needed to be quarantined from flatmates, hospital intensive care medical director Mace Ramsay said.
Another nurse was examined at the hospital after becoming unwell, but was allowed to return home.
Otago medical officer of health Dr John Holmes said none of the tests looking for an infection had found any organism that would explain the deaths.
But until more questions were answered, the three cases were being treated as though caused by infection, he said.
Health officers are gathering detailed information from family and other contacts so they can trace the movements of the three victims in the month before they died, looking for common threads.
Dr Tim Blackmore, of the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, said tests had so far had ruled out a range of bacteria, including e-coli, staphylococcus aureus, meningococcus and listeria, as well as viruses.
Tests were also being done for poisoning.
The United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention had been asked to help, and would . look for evidence of numerous diseases including those not known in New Zealand.
Dr Blackmore said the more time that passed without new cases, the less likely it was that the three deaths were caused by an infectious disease.
"The working hunch is that this is going to be a series of probably unrelated coincidences, as opposed to one weird infection or toxin that no-one has met before and that hasn't infected anyone else." ...details continue... >
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