Heartbreaking. I am so very sorry for this family.
Mold growing on shoes, blinds, furniture, etc is a big problem! That sounds horrible! My thoughts are with her family. It’s so sad that nothing was done…
What a heartbreaking story. There were so many times where someone could have made a different choice, and the outcome may have been different. I can’t believe that they left students in dorms with mold growing on their things. I do wonder what roll the Humira played in this. There is a lot of controversy over the side-effects of this drug.
Gosh, the hubris and heartlessness of the university to explain that their delayed announcement of the virus outbreak as a job “well done.” Unbelievable.
The mold issue not being promptly addressed in the dorm is definitely a problem, but it had nothing to do with this girl’s death. Adenovirus is a very common virus, and had nothing to do with the mold in the dorm. Expecting the university to make an announcement about adenovirus is like expecting them to make an announcement about the common cold; in fact, it IS expecting them to make an announcement about the common cold! The poor girl had Crohn’s. She was on an immunosuppressant. She caught a common virus. Her physicians knew she was immunosuppressed from her medication, but there was nothing they could do about it. Her body couldn’t fight the virus, she went into multi-system organ failure, and she died. This was not anyone’s fault. It was unfortunate, but a known risk of being on an immunosuppressant. Looking back, the girl could and should have very reasonably requested a single room, to reduce the risk of infection. She could and should have avoided crowds (can you imagine being a freshman living at college and avoiding crowds?). She should have sought medical care at the first sign of illness, from her own physicians, who knew she had Crohn’s and was on a powerful immunosuppressant. Boarding schools and college dormitories are just not safe places for people who are immunosuppressed. This girl’s death was in no way the fault of the college. The article is inappropriate and inflammatory.
@parentologist are you a health care professional, or is this just a personal opinion?
@adlgel no I didn’t see any reference to a lawsuit. I’m predicting there will be one. @parentologist Given the previous adenovirus deaths in NJ and the fact that a student from UMD was hospitalized with it and the university was informed to be on the lookout for more, I think they had reason to inform the students. The outcome for the student may not have changed but it might have if her doctors knew to test for adenovirus and had started her on an antiviral regimen rather than pumping her full of antibiotics for pneumonia. The doctors didn’t know to test for adenovirus bc no one mentioned there was an outbreak and as you point out it is usually no more than a common cold. However adenovirus 7 is a more virulent strain and immunocompromised individuals would be at risk. That’s what a jury would decide. As a previous poster mentioned there is no lawsuit at the moment so it’s a moot point unless one is filed.
Adenovirus incidents rarely if ever announced. One of my kids was immunosuppressive for years so I was in that circuit and had to keep aware. You get ringworm, pinkeye, lice notices. No adenovirus.
The Howard County medical center was remiss here, IMO. They had her history. But whether enough for a true medical negligence lawsuit, is another story. I don’t know. My guess is this family is investigating the possibilities.
@cptofthehouse this was happening around the same time. I agree that traditionally maybe adenovirus outbreaks aren’t announced. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/health/wanaque-adenovirus-deaths-new-jersey-bn/index.html
Here is a link to the CDC’s article about adenovirus.
https://www.cdc.gov/adenovirus/index.html
First line: “common virus”
It also says people with weakened immune systems are more likely to get very sick from it. If some of your student population qualifies then you should notify them in my opinion. I’m not going to litigate it here but I hope her parents do.
What is the school supposed to do, announce that there are common cold viruses going around? In my highly educated medical opinion, sending an immunosuppressed person to live in a boarding school, summer camp, military induction center, or college dormitory is foolhardy. If I were immunosuppressed, I would live at home, wash my hands constantly, have my family do the same, and be a total germophobe about touching with my bare hands surfaces that other people touch with their hands.
People who are immunosuppressed can die from the bacteria, viruses, and fungi that are part of their own normal biome. This poor girl died from essentially the common cold. It’s not the school’s fault.
Obviously the school health clinic was aware of students with underlying conditions such as Crohns. More than likely she had a disability plan in place hence why she was placed in an air conditioned dorm. The fact the health clinic knew she was ill, suffered from crohns and the outbreak; but did not inform such students seems negligent irrespective of regulations.
By law this student is protected by the ADA so it should not be considered foolhardy when she has the legal right to equal access to education.
The fact that the dorm required hazmats suits for remediation also does not sit well since it required parent uproar to get the ball rolling. Not only does mold make healthy individuals ill but those with serious health problems its much more dangerous. They knew better than this irrespective of what some consultant said as the mold was blatant.
My very good friend’s daughter has severe Crohns disease. They had their daughter live in an apartment off campus all 4 years.
But it’s a common cold virus! Common cold viruses are in constant circulation year round, everywhere. The college couldn’t have done anything to prevent her death, short of banning her from on-campus housing, which of course they could not do. That girl’s fate was was unfortunately written the day that she caught that common cold virus while she was immunosuppressed.
The extensive mold was a contributor. It increases susceptibility.
This story is heartbreaking.
Irrespective of living on and off campus and the mold issue, the school clinic knows which kids have medical issues, they knew they had a contagious disease, and they also knew some of these students with known health conditions could be exhibiting signs based on their visits to the school health clinic. But they chose silence over informing the at risk known students.
In the article the metion the school was informed of the outbreak before she went to student health center. Given her symptoms and their knowledge of the outbreak why didn’t they test her? Not alerting students of an outbreak serious or not is bad enough. But to not test the ones who show up to the health center ill when you have prior knowledge is even worse.
Endovirus is not the common cold. Furthermore surely the school was notified when the first student was hospitalized with the virus and they surely knew this girl was hospitalized yet said nothing. Deans and/or Clinics are notified when students are in the hospital merely to be excused so they don’t fail a course. They didnt have to send a campus wide notification but they had known students exhibiting signs with health conditions and said nothing to the vulnerable.
The lack of notification helped kill a student.
Universities need vast improvement in health communications. I was aghast at the handling of a widespread and lengthy norovirus outbreak at the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor in 2016. The university suppressed information and downplayed the outbreak. And the university president is an MD/MPH! Although transient and limited in most healthy people, norovirus can be devastating or deadly to certain people.