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Death not confirmed to have H1N1 link
Mac Olsen
for South Peace News
Alberta Health Services has not yet confirmed if a northern Alberta woman died as a direct result of the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.
According to the Edmonton Journal, the woman who died April 28 is 39-year-old Tina L’Hirondelle. She admitted herself to the High Prairie Health Complex with asthma problems.
“Doctors didn’t suspect the flu virus because she didn’t have typical flu symptoms,” says the Journal.
“They believed she died of pre-existing medical conditions. But on May 5, when her mother was found to have a mild form of the swine flu, the province immediately took a closer look at the death.”
The report adds the two women lived together in Gift Lake Métis Settlement. A provincial lab has confirmed L’Hirondelle had the same virus and the chronology of the illness “implies” she gave it to her mother, who remains under quarantine while recovering.
Nurses in Gift Lake have set up a medical clinic at the youth centre. They are monitoring approximately 300 people who attended L’Hirondelle’s wake.
Officials for Alberta Health Services held a news conference May 8. In a news release, chief medical officer of health Dr. Andre Corriveau stressed all prudent measures have been and continue to be taken in the community, which did not identify Gift Lake Métis Settlement or L’Hirondelle by name.
“I want to express my sympathy to the family at this difficult time,” says Corriveau in the news release.
“And I want to assure them and their community that we are responding in a coordinated, measured way to notify and give medical advice to everyone who attended the wake last week and anyone else who may have been exposed.”
He also says is not clear to what extent H1N1 may or may not have contributed to her death and it may never be clear.
Dr. Gerry Predy, the senior medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services, says in the news release, all actions and precautions are being taken to follow the situation.
Don Stewart, a media spokesperson for Alberta Health Services in Calgary, says neither person travelled to Mexico, where the source of H1N1 was discovered.
Alberta Health and Wellness declined to identify the names of the people or the community affected, as it only identifies the geographical area.
“We just can’t go and identify individuals who have come into contact with this,” says Stewart.
Nor can disclosure be provided due to provisions of the Health Information Act.
“That is the policy that they are following,” he says. “Given the fact that there are all of these cases… have been mild, apart from this individual who had the underlying health concerns, that’s just not deemed necessary, to go to that level of identification.”
The AHS website, http://www.health.alberta.ca/health-info/influenza-H1N1-cases.html, provides daily updates about H1N1 cases.
Forty-two cases of N1N1 have been reported in Alberta as of May 9.
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