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Local man dies of H1N1 while working in N.M.
Kevin Brown, a 2001 graduate of Waynesburg Central High School, arrived in New Mexico just days prior to his Nov. 9 death to work construction for Precision Staffing.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Web site, www.h1n1inpa.com, listed one swine flu death in Washington County as of Tuesday afternoon, along with 109 confirmed cases.
Losing 2-month-old Caryssa Jo Ann Phillips, who leaves behind her twin sister, Cassidy, and four other sisters, is “the hardest thing in the world,” said her father, Shane Phillips, a cook at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino. Phillips was at the William G. Neal Funeral Home on Allison Avenue in Washington with other family members Tuesday afternoon, just before services for Caryssa were due to get under way.
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Phillips was getting ready for work when Caryssa became sick. She was having trouble breathing and was turning shades of blue. She was initially taken to Washington Hospital, and was later transported by helicopter to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. Doctors there tried a number of procedures, including an experimental drug, but their efforts failed to reverse Caryssa’s downward trajectory, Phillips said.
Kevin Brown’s mother, Arleta Robison Brown of Waynesburg, said Tuesday her son had been experiencing bronchitis-type symptoms prior to leaving for New Mexico. “He had bronchitis in the past and he was coughing when we took him to the airport, but you just don’t think something like this is going to happen,” she said.
Brown, who had worked as a meat cutter for Giant Eagle in Waynesburg since high school, was remembered for his “huge” smile, good-natured pranks, big heart and unparalleled work ethic.
According to the state’s health department, children up to the age of 4 account for 7.1 percent of those infected by H1N1 in Pennsylvania. Those ages 10 to 14 have been hardest hit, with 25 percent of those infected with swine flu coming from this group. By contrast, those age 70 or better account for only 0.6 percent of cases.
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swine flu : 11/18/2009
I really wanted to go to the funeral for one of these victims, and b there for the family, but I was terrified. Has there been any studies done to find out if someone dies from this swine flu, does the virus die or is it still there with some kind of incubation period? Do we have a reason to be worried about that?
swine flu : 11/18/2009
My granddaughter done research on the internet and the germs will not live on cloth nor wood, other places it can live 2 to 8 hours
.. : 11/24/2009
its the flu, the same as when people die from regular flu in regards to the virus being conatgious or not after death, Articles like tihs are good as far as family concerns but bad in concerns of scaring the public.. the reg flu takes avg of 20000 people lifes in the us, the h1n1 is at 1000 for the year, which one would you be more scared of at this point.
