Andrew Lautz treats teenage hantavirus patient with ECMO
Updated
Updated · Women's Health · May 8
Andrew Lautz treats teenage hantavirus patient with ECMO
2 articles · Updated · Women's Health · May 8
At Cincinnati Children's in July 2022, 14-year-old Evie went on a ventilator within 12 hours, ECMO within 24, suffered nine minutes of cardiac arrest and spent about a month hospitalized.
Doctors diagnosed hantavirus about a week later after severe respiratory failure, shock and clues including her North Dakota origin; no specific antiviral treatment exists, so survival depended on intensive supportive care.
Lautz said hantavirus pulmonary syndrome can kill 35% to 47% of patients, is hard to diagnose quickly and may require rapid transfer to specialist ECMO centres, which many hospitals do not have.
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