Death Of A Hazelwood Central High School Freshman

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Source: http://www.fox2now.com/news/ktvi-con...,7239013.story

Concerns Surround The Death Of A Hazelwood Central High School Freshman

A Hazelwood Central High School freshman has died. The Hazelwood school district has been hit hard by the flu, and classmates of the young woman said the teenager had been suffering from many illnesses.

However, her passing has shocked her classmates as she passed away in a St. Louis City hospital. The City Health Department is still investigating, and the Hazelwood School District has no further details.

Copyright ? 2009, KTVI-TV

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Re: Death Of A Hazelwood Central High School Freshman

Source: http://www.fox2now.com/ktvi-concerns...,1284438.story

Influenza Among Factors Listed on Hazelwood Student's Death Certificate
Chris Regnier FOX2now.com

FLORISSANT, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) - We are learning more about the Hazelwood Central High School freshman who died earlier this week. The mother of 14 year old Asia Conley tells us she believes her daughter died of swine flu.

But at this point, health investigators have not released an official cause of death. Asia's mother, Kim Conley, tells us her daughter first started getting sick after she came home from school on Tuesday of last week. This past Tuesday night, Asia died at Children's Hospital.

"Asia was the type of person that touches your heart," said Kim.

Asia's mom says Asia ran a mile at school on Tuesday of last week, then she came home with a cough. On Wednesday, she developed a fever. By last Thursday, we're told Asia was at Children's Hospital. Asia's mother says doctors told her that Asia had Type A Influenza and that Type A Flu cases are being considered H1N1 cases. Kim Conley tells us influenza, stroke, and vasculitis are listed on her daughter's death certificate. Kim talked about what the doctors at Children's Hospital told her.

"Friday they told me that she had the A strain which happens to be swine flu," said Kim.

She added with tears in her eyes, "My child was 14 year old. She just started ninth grade. She wanted to be a lawyer. She had already picked out the college that she wanted to go to, which was St. Louis University. She had made plans on what she was going to do with her life."

Kim Conley is upset at Hazelwood schools saying they are not doing enough to educate people about swine flu.

A school district spokesperson tells us Type A Flu cases are turning up across the district including at Hazelwood Central and that the district is doing everything they can to protect students and staff from getting sick.

We are also told by school officials that a letter will go home with all students Friday explaining more about the death and the flu situation in the district. The letter also lays out plans to offer H1N1 vaccinations to students at campuses when the shots become available next month.

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Re: Death Of A Hazelwood Central High School Freshman

Source: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/new...8?OpenDocument


Did local teen die of swine flu?


Asia Conley

By Kim Bell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/25/2009

HAZELWOOD -- The mother of a teen-age girl from North County says her daughter died of swine flu. State and local health officials are investigating. It would be the first time a child has died in Missouri from the swine flu.

Asia Conley, 14, died at St. Louis Children's Hospital on Tuesday evening after days in a coma.


"The doctor said she tested positive for the swine flu," Conley told the Post-Dispatch today. "Four doctors told me that the inflammation was from the flu. They said it went up into her brain and gave her three strokes because it had blocked the arteries of her brain."

Doctors showed Asia's parents an MRI of her brain and told them Asia would never recover. At about 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Asia's parents decided to give doctors permission to remove the breathing tube. She died about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, her mother said.
RELATED INFORMATION
bullet Read the letter from the Hazelwood School District
bullet Missouri Department of Health's website, latest information on swine flu


"They asked to do an autopsy just on her brain," Conley said. "The flu did it. They told me that."

The Missouri Department of Health will investigate the death because it involves the suspected flu death of a child. The state must forward a report to the Centers for Disease Control, said Kit Wagar, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

No child has died in Missouri from the swine flu, also called the H1N1 virus. Two adults who had H1N1 died this year in Missouri. A 44-year-old man from St. Louis County died in May. A 24-year-old woman from Independence, Mo., died this month. The swine flu is also suspected in the death of a third adult: a man in his 30s from Poplar Bluff died this week. He had asthma.

Asia suffered from seasonal asthma. She also underwent brain surgery two years ago to install a shunt for hydrocephalus, Conley said.

Asia came home from Hazelwood Central High School on Sept. 15, complaining of feeling tired after running a mile in gym class. The next day, Asia went to school and called her mother to say she was light-headed. She spiked a fever of 102.

Her mother took her to a pediatrician. In the doctor's office, Asia's fever had dropped to 99. The doctor told Asia to take a fever reducer and a few puffs of her inhaler, if needed. That night, she seemed to perk up, her mother said. Asia watched television that night and watched out the window as a construction crew installed a concrete driveway outside the family's home.

"The rest of evening, she was fine," Conley said. "She laid down around 9:30 and went to sleep. Around 1:30, she came into my room and said she wasn't feeling good. I said,
'Crawl in beside me.' In the morning, she got up and took two Tylenol. Her eyes were going to the left. She was having a seizure. I had her in my arms dialing 911."

That was Thursday, Sept. 17. She was rushed to St. Louis Children's Hospital. Relatives heard doctors use the term "swine flu."

Doctors said a rapid test showed she had the flu but weren't sure which strain -- that test pinpointing the strain would take about three days, they told Conley. Later, they told Asia's family that the tests had determined Asia had Influenza A. Swine flu is a substrain of Influenza A.

By the time an MRI confirmed the brain damage on Tuesday, they broke the news to her family.

"They sat down and explained to us her injuries in the brain and told us Asia was never going to be Asia again ... (that) you are going to have to do everything for her if she makes it through this, she's going to be a miserable child," said Asia's cousin, Brandy Brown.

When Asia was 12 years old, in 2007, she had hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and had brain surgery at Children's Hospital to install a shunt. After that surgery, she once had a seizure in December after a high fever. She was put on seizure medication in December, but in the summer they decided to reduce that medication. Doctors told Asia's family that the flu, not the previous surgery, led to her hospitilization and death, Conley said.

Conley said her daughter was a bright girl who already had her mind made up that she wanted to attend St. Louis University and become a lawyer. She had toured the university with other students who atttained at least a 3.0 grade point average. She and her mother were making preparations for her college education.

"She was excited to be in high school," Conley said. "She was the type of person who was bright. She was a loving child. She had this spirit around her and anyone who knew her, it brought joy to their heart."

Hazelwood School District spokeswoman Diana Gulotta said a letter was being sent home Friday to parents of the district's 19,000 students. The letter never identifies Asia, but talks about the death of a student at Hazelwood Central High School as a "presumed death from the H1N1 flu."

"The investigation is in its early stages and we cannot confirm the cause of the student's death at the time," according to the letter, signed by superintendent Mary Piper. The letter goes on to tell parents how the district is following Health Department guidelines to keep the buildings clean and encourages students to wash their hands frequently and cough into their elbows.

So far this year, 33 students across the district have had Type A influenza, Gulotta said.

Before Asia's death, the district had kept parents up-to-date on flu news by sending out an email to 11,000 subscribers. Also, a letter goes home to parents anytime a school in the district has four confirmed cases of Type A influenza or has 10 percent of its students out sick with the flu. However, Hazelwood Central never met that threshhold. Instead, only one or two students at that school had Type A flu.

Joe Conley, Asia's father, said he wishes the school had warned parents that the flu had been in the school.

"If they even had one case reported, why didn't they send something home to tell the parents," Joe Conley said. "Not just for Asia's sake, but for anyone who may not have had any underlying condition. Even for children that don't have asthma. Now they want to send something home after my daughter is gone?"

Nationally, more than 600 people with H1N1 have died.

"Missouri has been very fortunate, frankly," said Wagar, the spokesman for the Missouri Department of Health. "The vast majority of those (national) cases have involved people with underlying medical conditions or pregnant women. Most people who get this illness feel really bad for two or three days but get over it without treatment."

Because Asia lived in St. Louis County, the St. Louis County Health Department is the lead agency in her death investigation. In an email to reporters just before noon today, the county's Health Department confirmed that it was investigating the possibility that the H1N1 virus may have been a contributing factor in her death. County health officials will be consulting with Asia's doctors to "better understand the exact circumstances surrounding the death," the email says.

The email goes on to say that, until the vaccine is available, proper hand washing and hygiene are the best ways to prevent the spread of the virus.

Asia Conley's funeral arrangements are being handled by William C. Harris Funeral Directors. Visitation will be from 1 to 7 p.m. Monday at the funeral home, 9825 Halls Ferry Road. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at San Francisco Temple at 10185 Halls Ferry Road. Burial will be at Jefferson Barracks Cemetery.



kbell@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8115

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Re: Death Of A Hazelwood Central High School Freshman

Hazelwood Central Student Had Type A Flu When She Died

FLORISSANT, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) - The director of the St. Louis County Health Department, Dr. Dolores Gunn, confirms for Fox 2 that the Hazelwood Central High student who died this week did have Type A Influenza. That's in the same family of flu as swine flu.

Dr. Gunn says she still isn't sure if the H1N1 virus killed 14 year old Asia Conley- the freshman at Hazelwood Central who died Tuesday night at Children's Hospital. "She had Type A Influenza but the actual cause of death is still under investigation," said Dr. Gunn during a one-on-one interview with Fox 2 on Friday afternoon.

What is clear is that young people are being hit the hardest by swine flu. In fact, Dr. Gunn says the majority of H1N1 cases in St. Louis County are in people under 19 years old.

"The younger generation simply does not have immunity so it's a little harder for them to fight something that they have not encountered before. What's happening is once the virus infects the body, it takes a little while for the immune system to respond appropriately," explained Gunn.

Gunn says those most at risk include babies under six months old, pregnant women and children with pre-existing medical conditions.

But what's especially troubling is that doctors can't predict how the illness will impact different people.

Dr Gunn told us, "I can't take a group of five year olds and line them up and tell you well I know for sure that one will have an infection that's worse than that one. We're not able to do that."

Gunn says St. Louis County will receive its first doses of the swine flu vaccine between October 15th and October 28th.

She tells us agreements have already been made with all 23 county school districts and the St. Louis Archdiocese to vaccinate kids at school with the permission of their parents.

Gunn says the swine flu vaccinations are safe and she encourages everyone to get them. She explained, "You weigh getting vaccinated against versus not getting vaccinated. And I think in a case like this with a disease that's hitting our population, the very youngest and most vulnerable persons in our populations, our pregnant women and our young children, I'd say we need to vaccinate them."

Doctor Gunn says the first shipment of vaccinations to St. Louis County will include between 100 and 136 thousand doses. Then the county will receive 25 thousand doses each week after that. The vaccinations will be free and we're told there will be community clinics. Gunn says an official cause of death on Asia Conley could take one to two weeks..