Hotel Death Caused by Meningitis

Health officials said a convention-goer who died over the weekend had a form of meningitis, but that so far her case doesn't appear to be part of a larger outbreak. 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.

Authorities said Sunday evening the death was caused by fulminant bacterial pneumonia, an aggressive infection that usually starts after an upper respiratory tract infection such as influenza Monday morning, they said she was also infected with Neisseria meningitidis, a bacteria that causes rapidly worsening infections. It is not as contagious as viral meningitis, but occasionally causes small outbreaks among people in close contact, such as in college dormitories and in military barracks. Lorraine Hynes, a spokeswoman for the Camden County Department of Health, said Monday it didn't appear that there was an outbreak of meningitis and that the woman probably had the disease before she arrived at the convention.

Hynes said a state health department lab was working to confirm the presumptive meningitis diagnosis and results should be available later Monday.

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 Monday morning with flulike symptoms.

Dr. David Condoluci, chief of infectious diseases with the Kennedy Health System, 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 was in critical condition.

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

Convention-goers and Hilton employees who were in close contact with Hemstreet, and might have shared drinking glasses or eating utensils, were also given antibiotics as a precaution. The others who went to the hospitals could have suffered from other wintertime bugs, Hynes said.

"If I was closely associated with this woman for a a few days and I had a cold, I'd be in the hospital," she said.

"It was important to us to take an aggressive stance in addressing this case, since there was the potential that many people may have been impacted," said Condoluci.

None of the seven people hospitalized, a man and six women, were known to be in close contact with Hemstreet during the convention.

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.

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 apparently also developed another infection.

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.

Health officials initially had worried that the outbreak was caused by anthrax or Legionnaires' disease.

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.

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