Originally published October 20 2005
Cause of three deaths in Vancouver remains a mystery
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Three elderly people have died of respiratory-related illness at Vancouver's Luther Court, a long-term care facility, but health officials have yet to identify the illness.
Vancouver Island health officials don't yet know why three elderly residents of a Victoria-area long-term-care facility showed symptoms of respiratory distress, fell ill and then died in the span of five hours.
Tests for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus at Luther Court in Saanich have turned up negative, but the island's health authority is still waiting for many results, spokesperson Suzanne Germain said.
We just don't know yet," she said.
No new cases have arisen since the three -- two women and a man -- died on Wednesday.
Another woman, who was taken to hospital for respiratory distress that day, died on Saturday, bringing the death toll to four people.
All were in their late 80s or early 90s, and lived on the second floor of the building.
After 17 people died of legionnaires' disease at a nursing home in Toronto this month, Luther Court has been looking for evidence of legionella bacteria, Ms.
"Legionnaires' is something people have focused on because of what happened out east," she said.
Families could take their relatives home on the condition they not return until the quarantine is lifted, she said, but not many people have left.
The B.C. Coroners Service has ordered autopsies for the three who died on Wednesday, and has consulted a panel of infectious-disease specialists to decide which tests -- mostly for routine respiratory infections -- to perform.
Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver and at the Ontario Public Health Laboratory in Toronto.
Johnson-Lefsrud said it wasn't unusual to have several respiratory-related deaths in the facility, which has 60 long-term beds and 58 independent apartments.
it's not unusual to have respiratory-related deaths in a population this frail.
They are very elderly, and it's the time of year to have respiratory ailments around.
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