Autopsy Expected from CH Death

Autopsy results on a convention-goer who died from a mysterious illness over the weekend are expected to be released today, state health officials said. Joanne Hemstreet, 45, of Kingston, Mass., had been suffering from a viral, flu-like illness for about two days before becoming seriously ill Saturday night, officials said. She was taken to Kennedy Memorial Hospitals-Cherry Hill and died early Sunday. Hemstreet was attending a national sales convention at the Cherry Hill Hilton with about 500 other employees of Cendant Mortgage. Seven other convention-goers remained hospitalized early Monday with similar but less severe symptoms.

"We do not know the exact cause of (Hemstreet's) demise," Dr. David V. Condoluci, chief of infectious diseases for Kennedy Health System, said at a Sunday afternoon news conference outside the hospital.

"This looks like possibly a case of pneumococcal pneumonia," he said, which was worsened by a subsequent, aggressive bacterial infection.

None of the seven people hospitalized, a man and six women, were known to be in close contact with Hemstreet during the convention. The results of their preliminary culture tests should be available Monday, officials said.

Condoluci said the seven had developed fevers, chills, sore throat and general weakness, and two have pneumonia. They were given antibiotics, either rifampin or ciprofloxacin, and were admitted for further treatment and observation as a precaution. None were in critical condition.

"Most of these cases probably would not have been admitted under normal circumstances," he said.

About 80 other people, who might have had contact with Hemstreet at the convention, went to the hospital emergency room for evaluation, hospital spokeswoman Nicole Pensiero said.

As a precaution, antibiotics were given to those who had close contact with Hemstreet, such as sharing drinking glasses or eating utensils.

Hemstreet developed a fever, headache, vomiting and shortness of breath Saturday and was rushed to the emergency room that night.

Condoluci said Hemstreet's initial flu-like illness worsened to pneumococcal pneumonia, which is not generally contagious. In her weakened condition she also got a secondary infection called purpura fulminans, an overwhelming bacterial infection with about a 70 percent mortality rate.

Despite antibiotic treatment and other measures, within four to five hours she developed a rash, her blood pressure plunged and she went into shock, Condoluci said. She died at 3:14 a.m.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Hemstreet family," Cendant President and CEO Terry Edwards said in a statement issued Sunday. "We will do everything to help them through this difficult time."

Health officials had worried the outbreak was caused by meningococcus, anthrax or Legionnaires' disease, but Condoluci said none of those appear to be the case.

Legionnaires' disease, caused by a bacterium that grows in water and can be spread through air-conditioning ducts, takes its name from a July 1976 outbreak that killed 29 people at the Pennsylvania American Legion convention at a hotel in nearby Philadelphia. It causes pneumonia-like symptoms.

Condoluci said workers from the state and Camden County health departments were at the hotel Sunday, interviewing convention guests and looking for clues in the medical mystery.

The hotel was quarantined from about 2 a.m. until 10 a.m. Sunday. A fur sale went on as scheduled at the hotel Sunday morning, and most of those at the Cendant meeting quickly left the Hilton once it was reopened.

Condoluci said hotel guests who did not have close contact with Hemstreet and have not shown any symptoms – such as fever, chills, sore throat and general weakness – were unlikely to get sick.

"They should not worry. They should be fine," he said.

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Author: 6-ABC-AP