Oregon hospital ER quarantined

[angelburst29]

A mystery?

Oregon hospital ER quarantined after people start hallucinating
http://kimatv.com/news/nation-world/ore-hospital-er-quarantined-after-multiple-people-start-hallucinating

Thursday, October 13th 2016 - COOS BAY, Ore. - A hospital in Coos Bay quarantined its emergency room after a 78-year-old patient, her caregiver, two sheriff's deputies and a hospital employee all began having hallucinations.

KVAL-TV News reported Wednesday that authorities have not yet pinpointed what caused the mysterious episodes, but they believe it was something spread by direct contact.

The bizarre incident began around 3 a.m. Wednesday when the elderly woman's caregiver, a 52-year-old woman, called authorities to say people were vandalizing her car.

A deputy responded to the home, on East Bay Road in North Bend, but found nothing. The caregiver called back at 5:30 a.m. and was then taken to Bay Area Hospital after deputies suspected the woman might be having a medical issues causing hallucinations.

Medical personnel checked her, she appeared fine and returned home.

Then the two deputies who worked with the caregiver began having hallucinations and had to be hospitalized. After that, the 78-year-old woman and a hospital employee started showing similar symptoms and had to be hospitalized as well.

The Coos County Haz Mat Team responded to Bay Area Hospital and the residence on East Bay Road. The team cleared the emergency room and began decontaminating vehicles and equipment.

Everyone involved was quarantined while an investigation was conducted to determine the cause of the hallucinations - but nothing was found in the emergency room or the home on East Bay Road. Blood samples revealed nothing unusual.

"No source of contaminate has been identified or found," Sgt. Pat Downing of the Coos County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.

Although authorities have not yet pinpointed what caused the episodes, they believe it was something spread by direct contact. The sheriff's department says one possibility is a medicated patch.

The emergency room quarantine was lifted after it was cleared and found to be safe.

Both deputies were treated and released from the hospital. The caregiver and her 78-year-old female client are still under care at the hospital.

The investigation continues.

 

[WIN 52]

Some sort of bleed through, ahead of the storm?

 

[duyunne]

Thanks for posting this angelburst29

I wonder, were they isolated or shared hallucinations? Eerie.

 

[theos]

Very strange, indeed. Here's another article with more details and speculation:

Around 3 AM on Wednesday October 12th officers in North Bend, Oregon were dispatched to help a local woman who was complaining of strangers vandalizing her car. The policemen arrived on the scene, and, much to their confusion, found no evidence or signs of vandalism whatsoever. So they left, puzzled.

At 5:30 AM they got another call from the same residence, and returned to East Bay Road to investigate again. But this time they met the woman, a 57-year old caretaker, and discovered that she was suffering from hallucinations. They immediately took her to the Bay Area Hospital.

But after only a short time she was declared healthy and OKAY, her system tested clean and she was discharged from the hospital. No harm no foul, right?

Not necessarily. This strange case gets even weirder, because after the caretaker was sent home, the two deputies who’d picked her up that morning began suffering from similar symptoms – namely, hallucinations – then the 78-year-old for whom the caretaker care-took, was hospitalized for the same thing. And finally, one of the nurses who’d been attending to the caretaker at the hospital came down with the same mysterious case of hallucinations…

The sickness was spreading, whatever it was, and it seemed to be passed along through direct contact.

The Coos County HAZMAT team descended upon the hospital, and everyone involved was quarantined. Equipment was sterilized, uniforms washed, and vehicles and hospital rooms were examined and studied in an effort to identify some kind of source.

But that’s the thing: they haven’t yet. Medical personnel checked blood samples from the quarantined individuals, and found nothing. The HAZMAT team concluded a search of the house where the caretaker was staying, and found nothing. All items and medications that could have caused the symptoms have been checked and ruled out. For a short while, investigators believed that a medication used in a skin patch was the mysterious culprit, but alas, this theory was recently also discounted. The enigma perseveres.

All patients (cops and hospital personnel included) who have fallen victim to the weird and inexplicable outburst of psychedelic sickness are responding to treatment well, according to Sgt. Pat Downing of the local police force. And will likely recover fully. But only time will tell – this is the first case of its kind, and without prior experience, not even the most qualified expert could predict what symptoms might still manifest.

This whole event is eerily reminiscent of Steven King’s famous novel, The Stand. In which, a top-secret government lab experiences a catastrophic failure, and a chemically engineered biological virus weapon is released on Earth, accidentally, to wreak havoc and fuel chaos. The US government tries very hard to cover up their mistake and enforce law and order by(unsurprisingly) lying to the public, and keeping important information secret. Right up until the great collapse.

I’m not saying that these hallucinogenic infections will spiral into the end of the world. But it is strange that despite days of studying and testing this unknown malady, experts are still scratching their heads worriedly. And that’s not good news, no matter where the bug came from: if it is a totally natural, never-before-seen strain of virus or bacteria, which spreads easily through contact and induces intense hallucinations, then we have encountered an entirely new microbial enemy. If it is a government-engineered psychedelic-bug that somehow escaped or was released from a lab somewhere in Oregon, then we have even greater worries…

These are strange days. Hopefully more information will be released soon, and investigators will get to the bottom of this uncanny mystery. As of now, the quarantine on the hospital has been ended, the officers have been discharged from hospital care, and the caretaker and elderly person are still being held for observation.

How the HAZMAT team, and police deal with this story in the aftermath will surely say something about the nature of the illness. Transparency is key. If the whole incident is swept under the rug and never again discussed, there will be reason to suspect foul-play. If investigators come up with some desultory fictional narrative to explain the outbreak, it should be easy enough to tell (bullshit smells just like you’d imagine). But if they are totally open and transparent (which is unlikely in my opinion) maybe we’ll actually find out what happened here.

Maybe they were beamed?

 

[griffin]

Although authorities have not yet pinpointed what caused the episodes, they believe it was something spread by direct contact. The sheriff's department says one possibility is a medicated patch.

Other news reports about this incident revealed that the medicated patch involved contained fentanyl.

The opioid drug fentanyl is about 80 times stronger than morphine. It was identified as the cause of death for Michael Jackson and Prince. A microgram dose of fentanyl might cause hallucinations.

 

[Keit]

The opioid drug fentanyl is about 80 times stronger than morphine. It was identified as the cause of death for Michael Jackson and Prince. A microgram dose of fentanyl might cause hallucinations.

But if it was a medicated patch, wouldn't it need to come in contact with all those people in order to cause hallucinations? Very strange indeed.

 

[Altair]

The opioid drug fentanyl is about 80 times stronger than morphine. It was identified as the cause of death for Michael Jackson and Prince. A microgram dose of fentanyl might cause hallucinations.

But if it was a medicated patch, wouldn't it need to come in contact with all those people in order to cause hallucinations? Very strange indeed.

Indeed. Something is rotten here. Here is what wikipedia says about fentanyl patches:

The patches work by slowly releasing fentanyl through the skin into the bloodstream over 48 to 72 hours, allowing for long-lasting pain management.

Dosage is based on the size of the patch, since, in general, the transdermal absorption rate is constant at a constant skin temperature. Rate of absorption is dependent on a number of factors. Body temperature, skin type, amount of body fat, and placement of the patch can have major effects.

The different delivery systems used by different makers will also affect individual rates of absorption. Under normal circumstances, the patch will reach its full effect within 12 to 24 hours; thus, fentanyl patches are often prescribed with a fast-acting opiate (such as morphine or oxycodone) to handle breakthrough pain.

 

[loreta]

What an interesting story a la King. Maybe an experiment they are trying? It worked and now this "virus" will spread, maybe. Always something to scare people and to distract them of the reality, specially the elections.