Mystery Respiratory Illness in Alabama: Five in Hospital and Two Dead

A mystery respiratory illness has struck southeast Alabama, sending seven to the hospital, and killing two.

Dr. Mary McIntyre, an assistant sate health officer for disease control and prevention with the Alabama Department of Public Health, said Tuesday the seven reported cases are all linked to one hospital in Dothan.

"So far, they have all been reported at one hospital," she said, according troymessenger.com. "Right now, we are in the process of determining how much of a surrounding area we are going to be including in the notification area."

According to the Houston County Health Department, officials have released news of the illnesses during a press conference on Tuesday morning. During the conference, officials said the illnesses date back as far as April 19 and as recently as Monday. All come from a 10-county area of Southeast Alabama. Five of the seven individuals still remain in the hospital at this time, with one in the intensive care unit.

 "We don't have any details about that," she said. "As far as our report goes, these seven people were all admitted to one hospital in Dothan. They were having respiratory symptoms and we've performed quick tests ... and have sent results to the state for additional testing."

Two patients tested positive for the influenza virus: one for H1N1 and the other one for influenza A. In its official news release, the ADPH identified cases of "a cluster of respiratory illnesses of unknown origin."

 "Right now, we're doing additional testing," McIntyre said. "We don't know what it is at this point."

Testing is being conducted by the ADPH Bureau of Clinical Laboratories and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Respiratory Laboratory. Both agencies have recommended the hospital use respiratory precautions, which include the staff using N95 masks when caring for patients presenting with respiratory symptoms.

Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath, all of which can be associated with influenza.

"And it's important for people to remember that just because it's not January, February or March we can still have an influenza outbreak," McIntyre said. "We're trying to get people to understand if they are symptomatic to do what they would do if they had the known flu."