Rhiza Labs FluTracker Forum

Victim details; immunocompromised
In March the 34-year-old mother of three was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Last month, she had a bone marrow transplant at OHSU in Portland, and had been recovering at the hospital, when suddenly she got worse.
"She started having respiratory problems, and it just progressively got worse," he said.
Too weak to battle the virus, Dawn's lungs and kidneys started to shut down, and on Friday, she died - the first person from Central Oregon to die of H1N1, and the ninth in Oregon.
http://www.ktvz.com/global/story.asp?s=10959332

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-d ... s_id=67584

Trucker dies.

since 1 september
http://www.flu.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/acd/sw ... tion.shtml

Details of the woman, Kathleen Skeen, who's death was reported last weeK.

Steven Skeen will miss his wife's upbeat take on life. Kathleen Skeen died of H1N1 flu last Saturday at a Walla Walla hospital. The Pendleton woman and a Milton-Freewater boy are Umatilla County's first two swine flu deaths.

Both victims had underlying physical problems. Kathleen had a degenerative lung disease that forced her to retire a few years ago from her job with the Oregon Department of Justice.
She was pretty upbeat about it - she didn't let it get her down," Steven said. "She was always happy - she tried to look on the positive side of things."

The 40-year-old loved to camp and fish, he said, hauling trout out of Thief Valley Reservoir just this summer. His wife, a bookworm, found joy in watching the couple's blended family grow and pass milestones. Last spring, when her son Jeremy and stepchildren Alex and Kia graduated together from Pendleton High School, Kathleen cried tears of pride.

"She was ecstatic," Steven said.

Last week, Kathleen entered the hospital with flu symptoms and respiratory problems that had dogged her for almost two weeks. Her husband, three sons and three step-children were concerned, but not overly alarmed since Kathleen was hospitalized periodically to stabilize her ailing lungs.

"For her to be in the hospital wasn't an uncommon thing," Steven said. "It was business as usual."

Kathleen, a Hermiston High School graduate, was there about a day-and-a-half when things went awry.

"Suddenly, within a matter of hours, things went very bad, very fast," Steven said.

He paused. "It's hit us pretty hard." The Skeen's once noisy house now seems incredibly quiet. Two of Kathleen's sons have moved in with their father and Kathleen, of course, is gone. Steven said his wife didn't fear H1N1, though she planned to get vaccinated against the virus.

"She really wasn't concerned about it," he said. "What she'd heard from her doctors was that it wasn't worse than any other flu."

The couple remained buoyantly optimistic. "We always knew something could happen," Steven said. "We just never expected it to."

When asked what he will miss most about his wife, Steven paused."Everything," he said, finally.Memorial services were at 2 p.m. Saturday at Burns Mortuary Chapel in Pendleton.

http://eastoregonian.com/main.asp?FromH ... ctionID=48

The number of H1N1cases seem to be increasing in Central Oregon. As of Friday, there are 27 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in Deschutes County. Depending on the day, anywhere from 30 to 50% of people visiting the Emergency Room at Saint Charles Bend are there with flu like symptoms.

What we expect is that we will stay at a very high level for a period of time. There will be little, kind of mini waves of activity over the next two to four weeks, maybe even longer.” Also, as of Monday, Bend Memorial Clinic had 42 cases, up from about 20 the Friday before the County Health Department is reminding people to stay home unless there are complications such as chest pain or difficulty breathing.

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