Update: Bristol girl, 12, who died had swine flu
5:00 PM Wed, Oct 28, 2009 | Permalink
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By Felice J. Freyer
The girl, Victoria Sousa, is the fourth Rhode Islander to die of swine flu since it arrived in the state last spring, the first person who was apparently healthy when she became infected and the first person to die since the virus resurged this fall. Currently swine flu, or H1N1, is spreading quickly around Rhode Island, with 88 schools reporting unusually high absenteeism and pediatricians' offices besieged with calls. Swine flu is typically a mild illness but can be fatal in rare cases. About 100 children around the country have died of it since the spring. Victoria, a seventh-grader at St. Philomena's School in Portsmouth, came down with mild flu symptoms last week and stayed home from school on Friday. On Monday, she took a sudden turn for the worse and died that night. At a State House news conference announcing the H1N1 test results, state Health Director David R. Gifford said it is not yet clear how the H1N1 virus led to Victoria's death. That won't be known until an autopsy is complete in about two weeks, he said. Victoria was the daughter of Louis and Catherine Sousa, of Bristol, according to a spokeswoman for the William J. Smith & Sons Funeral Home, of Warren. Principal Donna Bettencourt-Glavin said the girl came from a family of three children, including an older sister of high-school age who had come down with an apparent case of the flu the previous week and had already returned to classes. -- With reports from staff writer Thomas Morgan The first version of this report was published at 5 p.m. 
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Your article does not make sense. You say she died from swine flu, but then also say, "Whether the flu, also known as H1N1, was the cause of death was still unclear, however."
The H1N1 flu is the "swine flu."
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My heart absolutely breaks for Victoria's family and friends. I never met Victoria or her family but her story hits very close to my home. I have a 6th grade Catholic school girl in Rhode Island who has been out sick all week with H1N1. She presented with symptoms on Sunday.
This is a very scary virus and this epidemic feels very out of control.
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my prayers go out to this family, this is truly tragic and there are not words enough to convey the sadness of this.
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My thoughts and prayers are with the family of this victim. I have heard reports from healthcare profesionals stating that the U.S. does not have enough vaccines available to supply all the people living in the country. I would argue that since we have enough money to fight two wars overseas I dont see any reason why as a country we can not come together and produce enough of the vaccine for everyone. We should be spending as much money as necassary to protect every citezen of this country. The government and the private sector should be forced to allocate funds and refit the medical machinery in order to produce as much of the vaccine as is needed. If we can refit a car assembly line to produce tanks and bombs during WWII then why cant we refit aspirin and cosmetic assembly lines to produce huge quantities of the H1N1 vaccine.
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Sad thing beyond this is that this child never should have died from N1H1 had the vaccine been available as everyone was told it would be. We've all been told since the spring that plenty of the vaccine would be available and now only a few select places are getting it.
I just have to wonder if this tragedy could have been different had she gotten the vaccine if it was indeed available????
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I am very sorry for your loss. My words can't comfort you, but know that your family is in my family's thoughts and prayers.
This touches us all and reminds us how important it is to be part of a community. Her loss is just so hard to take.
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Sorry to hear of this young girl passing on so early.
I would like you RI people to check this site out.
It seems that most of you people are so caught up in the liberal MSM that you aren't seeking the facts.
There are truths out here that are very factual.
use all your resources and here is one of many.
http://www.naturalnews.com/027323_swine_flu_national_emergency_pandemic.html
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Should the population of students be wearing masks to school, like they did in Mexico? A simple solution... I am sorry for the loss of this child. I can almost feel the anguish that they must be going through.
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@SMSAlaska: The link you recommended says, among other things, that Obama declared a national emergency with respect to H1N1, so that armed guards could march door-to-door in America and force people, willing or not, to receive the vaccine.
That's kind of an odd position to stake out, when one of the big complaints people have is that they cannot get the vaccination because there's not enough of it to go around.
The truth is, National Emergency was declared not to run roughshod over the Bill of Rights, as you seem to think, but because only within the context of National Emergency are hospitals able to respond in the way that the medical experts think is the best way to stop and reverse the spread of the PigPox.
Political fearmongering does not help us in that regard.
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Does anyone know if she died at home or at the hospital? My husband seems to think she went into the hospital on Friday and died on Monday after her stay at the hospital.
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