26-year-old newlywed dies from flu complication

This week the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) came out with numbers on the efficacy of the 2014-2015 flu vaccine. Since the start of the flu season, experts have cautioned the current vaccine was not designed to offer protection against the strain seen most commonly, H3N2, and now it appears that official numbers indicate the vaccine is only 23 percent effective in people who received it. Sadly, not many people in the United States are aware of the flu vaccine’s failure, and as the season progresses, the death toll is starting to climb. SEE ALSO: Flu claims the lives of Iowa toddler and Minnesota teenager Flu deaths are not uncommon, especially among elderly patients who have debilitated immune systems, underlying conditions, or develop complications. This year, however, more and more “otherwise healthy” individuals are dying from the flu, as in the most recent case to make media headlines: that of 26-year-old Katie McQuestion. Katie McQuestion, a newlywed working as a radiologist in Wisconsin, received a flu vaccine because it was hospital policy. She later still developed the flu and within a few days was admitted to the hospital with the life-threatening complication of sepsis. Mayo Clinic pulmonary critical care physician and sepsis expert, Steve Peters, M.D, explained in a press release that, though uncommon, sepsis can occur with the flu–and many other types of infections. The condition, caused by a release of inflammatory toxins into the blood stream, can damage multiple organ systems, causing them to fail. “Many infections can cause it,” Dr. Peters said in a press release from the clinic. “It is most common with bacterial infections, but you can get sepsis from other types of bugs also. Severe sepsis means you’ve got that and signs of organ damage: lung injury, impaired kidney function, impaired liver function,” he explained. “Septic shock means you have all of those findings of severe sepsis, but now you’ve been given fluids, and there’s still poor blood pressure, poor urine output, breathing troubles, and there are still ongoing signs of sepsis.” In the case of Katie McQuestion, attending doctors told Good Morning America the young woman’s sepsis was the result of pneumonia, a complication of being sick with the flu. Because pneumonia is often bacterial in that type of situation, the bacteria can spread into the blood stream. “They told us sepsis had set in, and it was too late,” her mother told Good Morning America, adding that McQuestion had suffered a heart attack while in the hospital. “By that time, all her organs had begun to fail. There was nothing they could do. To go from not feeling good to dying is just — there’s no words,” her mother said. “It just breaks my heart. She was such a great kid.” Sepsis shock is fatal and is the cause of approximately 20 to 30 percent of deaths among hospitalized patients. Dr. Peters indicated as soon as someone starts to feel ill at home they need to take the most important precaution against sepsis: drinking plenty of fluids. SEE ALSO: Maybe you should try some ginseng this flu season “Let’s say one feels some nasal congestion, and achy, like a cold or upper respiratory illness they’d had many times before, or a low-grade temperature of 99 or 100 F, and otherwise they’re up and around and able to drink fluids: That would not call for going to the emergency department,” he said. “But, if one was not able to take fluids, became more sleepy and lethargic and was lying down all day, and starting to look quite ill or appearing confused, for example—that person should definitely be seen by a doctor.”The post 26-year-old newlywed dies from flu complication appeared first on Voxxi.

More and more healthy people are becoming flu victims. (Shutterstock)

This week the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) came out with numbers on the efficacy of the 2014-2015 flu vaccine. Since the start of the flu season, experts have cautioned the current vaccine was not designed to offer protection against the strain seen most commonly, H3N2, and now it appears that official numbers indicate the vaccine is only 23 percent effective in people who received it.

Sadly, not many people in the United States are aware of the flu vaccine’s failure, and as the season progresses, the death toll is starting to climb.

SEE ALSO: Flu claims the lives of Iowa toddler and Minnesota teenager

Flu deaths are not uncommon, especially among elderly patients who have debilitated immune systems, underlying conditions, or develop complications. This year, however, more and more “otherwise healthy” individuals are dying from the flu, as in the most recent case to make media headlines: that of 26-year-old Katie McQuestion.

Katie McQuestion, a newlywed working as a radiologist in Wisconsin, received a flu vaccine because it was hospital policy. She later still developed the flu and within a few days was admitted to the hospital with the life-threatening complication of sepsis.

Mayo Clinic pulmonary critical care physician and sepsis expert, Steve Peters, M.D, explained in a press release that, though uncommon, sepsis can occur with the flu–and many other types of infections. The condition, caused by a release of inflammatory toxins into the blood stream, can damage multiple organ systems, causing them to fail.

“Many infections can cause it,” Dr. Peters said in a press release from the clinic. “It is most common with bacterial infections, but you can get sepsis from other types of bugs also. Severe sepsis means you’ve got that and signs of organ damage: lung injury, impaired kidney function, impaired liver function,” he explained. “Septic shock means you have all of those findings of severe sepsis, but now you’ve been given fluids, and there’s still poor blood pressure, poor urine output, breathing troubles, and there are still ongoing signs of sepsis.”

In the case of Katie McQuestion, attending doctors told Good Morning America the young woman’s sepsis was the result of pneumonia, a complication of being sick with the flu. Because pneumonia is often bacterial in that type of situation, the bacteria can spread into the blood stream.

Drink fluids when you are sick
Drinking fluids is an important part of warding off sepsis. (Shutterstock)

“They told us sepsis had set in, and it was too late,” her mother told Good Morning America, adding that McQuestion had suffered a heart attack while in the hospital. “By that time, all her organs had begun to fail. There was nothing they could do. To go from not feeling good to dying is just — there’s no words,” her mother said. “It just breaks my heart. She was such a great kid.”

Sepsis shock is fatal and is the cause of approximately 20 to 30 percent of deaths among hospitalized patients. Dr. Peters indicated as soon as someone starts to feel ill at home they need to take the most important precaution against sepsis: drinking plenty of fluids.

SEE ALSO: Maybe you should try some ginseng this flu season

“Let’s say one feels some nasal congestion, and achy, like a cold or upper respiratory illness they’d had many times before, or a low-grade temperature of 99 or 100 F, and otherwise they’re up and around and able to drink fluids: That would not call for going to the emergency department,” he said. “But, if one was not able to take fluids, became more sleepy and lethargic and was lying down all day, and starting to look quite ill or appearing confused, for example—that person should definitely be seen by a doctor.”

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The post 26-year-old newlywed dies from flu complication appeared first on Voxxi.

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