Health Authorities Closed the School in Greenville

BEACON TRANSCRIPT – Pending an investigation, the Washington School in Greenville will be closed until Wednesday. The health authorities close the school in Greenville after a young student passed out due to flu-related complications.

Although we are in the middle of the flu season, the symptoms experienced by most people are quite mild. You might have a runny nose, a nasty cough or a slight fever, but, with the proper care and bed rest, these symptoms shouldn’t last more than a week.

Unfortunately for some patients, influenza can prove to be quite deadly. The disease itself is not deadly, but its complications, like flu-pneumonia, can be. Although these cases are quite rare, it would seem that they don’t tend to discriminate. According to the specialists, children, senior citizens, and adults with a weakened immune system have a high risk of developing influenza complications.

This is what happened to a 13-year-old from Greenville. A couple of days ago, Cheyenne Hicks from Grenville was sent home from school after her teachers saw that the pupil was no feeling too good. Alerted by her symptoms, Cheyenne’s family rushed the little girl to the Delta Regional Medical Center.

After consulting the 13-year-old girl, the physicians from the Delta Medical Center made the decision of transferring her to the UMMC. Unfortunately, after a couple of hours, the girl passed away due to flu-related complication. According to the autopsy, Cheyenne’s early demise is due to flu-pneumonia, probably the most severe complication of influenza.

As stated before, flu pneumonia is a rare complication of the disease. This usually occurs when the viral agent manages to enter your lungs. It can also happen if the patient contracts a bacterial infection during his or hers illness. The most common symptoms associated with this rare complication are fever, chills, throbbing chest pains and sweating.

When the disease progresses, the patient might experience other symptoms such as violent coughing, accompanied by bloody or green mucus. Moreover, the patient might also notice an increased pulse and, in many cases, a blue coloring of the nails and lips. The doctors have also observed that some patients experience stomach pains.

The health authorities closed the school in Greenville after a young pupil with influenza died shortly at the hospital. As a precautionary method, Greenville’s health authorities decided to close down the school until Wednesday. Naturally, the physicians will begin to consult all the children who went into contact with the little girl.

According to the CDC, this is the first confirmed case of pediatric death in 2016, which was related to influenza.

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