DeJa Vue? N.J. hotel guest dies, seven others sickened

Eggs on me if this has been posted, but I do notice the striking similarities....

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Phyllies

Local & Regional

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Posted on Mon, Feb. 11, 2002

N.J. hotel guest dies, seven others sickened
By NEDRA LINDSEY, DWIGHT OTT and SUSAN SNYDER
Philadelphia Inquirer

A Cherry Hill hotel was temporarily quarantined early Sunday and fear ensued after a woman died and seven other guests were admitted to a hospital with flulike symptoms.
By the end of the day, doctors were saying it appeared that Joanne Hemstreet, 45, of Kingston, Mass., had died of bacterial pneumonia. Hemstreet died early Sunday at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals-University Medical Center/Cherry Hill, they said, most likely from a form of pneumonia that is noncontagious, but fatal in 60 percent to 80 percent of cases.

And they suspected that Hemstreet ¡ª and some others attending a mortgage convention at the Cherry Hill Hilton ¡ª had been suffering from a flulike illness that took a fatal turn for Hemstreet because of some predisposition.

But officials from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services and the Camden County Department of Health said they were continuing to investigate other possibilities, including Legionnaires' disease and contagious bacterial meningitis. Hemstreet had a purple rash all over her body, which they said could be an indication of meningitis.

"We did some smears of the phlegm from her lungs, and it looks like it will be the [pneumonialike illness], which is not good for her but is not contagious to other people," said David D. Condoluci, director of infectious diseases for Kennedy Health Systems.

Doctors said test results would be available todaymon. Late Sunday afternoon, with 80 percent of the test results in, the infection did not appear to be Legionnaires', said Laura Otterbourg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Senior Services.

"We're all concerned, but there's no need to panic," Condoluci said.

At the hotel on Cuthbert Road at Route 70 Sunday morning, more than a hundred out-of-town guests spilled out into the parking lot, waiting as a fleet of taxis and buses arrived to shuttle them to the airport and other transportation. The mood was subdued but calm as they milled around, chatting over their luggage.

"It was just a little odd and a little eerie looking out and seeing police cars," said Jim Hoover, a regional sales manager from St. Louis. "The mood was intense, but no one was panicked."

One man who did not wish to be identified ok per knittle said he had gone out about midnight to take in the NBA celebrations and returned about 4 a.m. to find himself locked out. He slept in his car, he said, adding that several dozen other people were sacked out in cars scattered around the parking lot.

Yesterday evening, a hotel employee said guests who had been shut out overnight were let back in at 10 a.m. He said some guests had approached management about getting reimbursed.

More than 80 people - many of them employees of Cendant Mortgage, a company based in Mount Laurel, Burlington County - were being evaluated for various symptoms late Sunday afternoon.

About 350 of the 450 hotel guests were Cendant employees attending a national sales convention, which had begun Thursday and ended Sunday. Employees were told about 2 a.m. that there was "a possible problem," Cendant's Hoover said.

Yesterday, two of the hotel guests admitted to Kennedy had a mild form of pneumonia, Condoluci said. Symptoms in the six women and one man included fever, sore throat, chills and body aches. None had a purple rash.

Only one of the seven was known to have been in close contact with Hemstreet. That person drank from the same glass, but much earlier in the weekend72 hrs ago, said Judith Lightfoot, also an infectious-disease doctor at Kennedy.

"Most of these cases under other circumstances probably would have been treated and discharged," Condoluci said. Of those showing symptoms, some who had been in contact with Hemstreet were being given antibiotics, including Cipro, as a precaution.

Cipro has also been used in connection with anthrax, but officials emphasized Sunday that there was no evidence that the illness had been caused by anthrax exposure.

Condoluci noted that Legionnaires' disease was an unlikely possibility because that illness usually occurs in the summer, spread through air conditioning.

The sometimes fatal bacterial infection, which causes pneumonia and flulike symptoms, was first identified at a Philadelphia hotel in 1976. About 200 people became ill at the Bellevue Stratford, and 34 American Legion conventioneers died. It was determined that exposure to bacteria from air-conditioning ducts in the hotel caused the outbreak.

Hemstreet had driven to the convention from Massachusetts several days ago with two acquaintances, neither of whom seemed to show symptoms, doctors said. She apparently already had been ill with a flulike infection, they said.

She went to the emergency room about 8 p.m. Saturday, suffering from a headache, fever, nausea and vomiting. Within four or five hours, she developed the rash, and pneumonia in all lobes of her lungs, Condoluci said. Her blood pressure dropped, and she died at 3:10 a.m. The Medical Examiner's Office listed the cause as bacterial pneumonia, he said.

"A lot of times the flu season can predispose someone to this kind of illness," he said.

As others reported feeling ill, the Camden County Health Department at 4 a.m. decided to quarantine the hotel, lifting the order at 10 a.m. when the situation appeared less dire.

"If it were something highly contagious, they want to examine people right away and get them on" antibiotics, said Lorraine Hynes, spokeswoman for the Camden county Health Department. "When their initial diagnosis wasn't determined to be a worst-case scenario, they lifted" the quarantine.

The county's hazardous materials team took air-quality samples, among other investigations, as the situation unfolded.

None of the hotel staff at the Cherry Hill Hilton went to the hospital or reported feeling ill, said Steve Kronick, the hotel's senior vice president of operations.

As of last night, at least one previously scheduled event had been canceled. The hotel was quiet, with few guests in the lounge, restaurant or waiting area. All of the conference rooms had emptied. No one except hotel staff wandered the hallways.

"Sunday is always slow," said Joseph Magid, owner of the hotel's gift shop, who didn't open until 4 p.m. "It's always bad when something happens at a hotel," he added. "It's never good."

In a statement, Cendant's president and chief executive officer, Terry Edwards, said the firm was working closely with health authorities. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hemstreet family, who have suffered a terrible loss," he said. "We will do everything to help them through this difficult time."

 

Here is another report:

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preliminary test results on the seven people admitted to the hospital should be available Monday.


Condoluci said hotel guests who did not have close contact with Hemstreet and had not shown any symptoms such as fever, chills, sore throat and general weakness were unlikely to get sick.


``They should not worry. They should be fine,'' he said.


One man and six women were taken to the hospital early Sunday after also developing a viral, flu-like illness, Condoluci said. Their symptoms included fever, chills, sore throat and general weakness, and two had pneumonia.


None was in critical condition. None was known to have been in close contact with Hemstreet.


They were given antibiotics and admitted for further treatment and observation as a precaution.


About 80 other people who might have had contact with Hemstreet had gone to the hospital's emergency room for evaluation, hospital spokeswoman Nicole Pensiero said.


Antibiotics were given to people who had close contact with Hemstreet, perhaps by sharing drinking glasses or eating utensils.


Condoluci said investigators from the state and Camden County health departments were at the hotel Sunday, interviewing convention guests. The hotel was quarantined for several hours early in the day but the restriction was lifted before noon.


Hemstreet had developed a fever, headache, vomiting and shortness of breath Saturday and was rushed to the emergency room that night.


Condoluci said the woman's initial flu-like illness worsened to pneumococcal pneumonia, which is not generally contagious. In her weakened condition she also got a secondary infection called purpura fulminans, an overwhelming bacterial infection with about a 70 percent mortality rate.


Within four to five hours she developed a rash, her blood pressure plunged and she went into shock, Condoluci said.


The illnesses brought back memories of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at a Philadelphia-area convention 25 years ago.


Legionnaires' disease, caused by a bacterium that grows in water and can be spread through air conditioning ducts, takes its name from a July 1976 outbreak that killed 29 people at the Pennsylvania American Legion convention at a hotel in Philadelphia. It also causes pneumonia-like symptoms.


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