The younger woman was diagnosed with influenza and died the next day

Young woman is sent home with a diagnosis of the flu - a day later she is dead

In the US, a young woman was sent home by the doctor with the flu. The next day, the 20-year-old died in a hospital. It was there that the young mother was really suffering - pneumonia.

Young mother dies one day after flu diagnosis

Last Tuesday, a 20-year-old mother of two children who had been diagnosed with influenza the day before died in the United States, according to the US news channel Fox 10. As it turned out before her death, the young woman suffered from pneumonia, a disease whose risks are unfortunately often underestimated.

In the US, doctors sent a young woman with a flu diagnosis home. The next day she was dead. She died of pneumonia. (Image: psdesign1 / fotolia.com)

Patient suffered from pneumonia

Last Monday, the 20-year-old American Alani M. went to a doctor because she was not feeling well. This sent the mother of two, according to her aunt Stephanie G., with the diagnosis flu and some flu drugs home.

But at night, the condition of the young woman worsened. Her mother brought her to a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, the next morning with severe respiratory problems..

There, the doctors "took an X-ray and told her she had pneumonia, and then it went downhill steeply," her aunt said.

The patient was connected to a ventilator, but then her heart stopped beating.

Resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful

"They tried to revive them, and they tried for several minutes, and they told my sister that they could not do anything else to leave us," the deceased's aunt said.

She also said that the doctors told her that her niece had flu that caused pneumonia. Pre-existing conditions were therefore not found.

"In a million years, we would not have expected to lose her that day," said the aunt, who also explained that Alani M. had not been vaccinated against the flu, but there was no indication that this made a difference would have.

Risks are often underestimated

According to health experts, pneumonia is still a neglected danger that can be fatal.

As with most diseases, even with pneumonia, the sooner a therapy starts, the better. The question of how to recognize pneumonia can be life-saving.

Often, symptoms such as cough, fever and fatigue first appear. These complaints are often associated with those of a simple respiratory infection.

If chills appear in addition to the symptoms described, or if coughing is accompanied by purulent or even bloody expectoration, a doctor should be consulted quickly. Because all of these are signs of pneumonia.

Pneumonia is the most commonly fatal infectious disease in Western Europe. In Germany, especially the elderly are at risk, globally younger.

For example, Save the Children recently reported that two children die of pneumonia per minute worldwide. And that although the dangerous disease can often be treated well. (Ad)