Hospital Quarantined Over Case Of Chickenpox
Doctors Thought It Might Have Been Smallpox
POSTED: 5:23 p.m. CDT October 21, 2002
UPDATED: 10:42 p.m. CDT October 21, 2002
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- KMBC's Martin Augustine reported Monday that a suspected case of smallpox has turned out to be only a severe case of adult chickenpox.
A middle-aged man came into the emergency room at St. John's Hospital in Leavenworth Monday with "severe" pustules on his face. After doctors examined the patient, they initiated a quarantine of the emergency room.
Gregg Madsen (pictured, left) an administrator with St. John's, gave a press conference on the case.
"It's my first experience with a quarantine here," Madsen said.
Madsen assured people that only the ER was under quarantine.
"Everything else is open, our patients are being treated. In light of today's climate, this was an appropriate and prudent thing to do," Madsen said.
Samples of the patient's pustules were sent to the Health Department in Topeka to be sure. Results came in around 6:00 p.m. Monday night that proved the man's illness to be severe chickenpox.
Gregg Madsen (pictured, left) an administrator with St. John's, gave a press conference on the case.
"It's my first experience with a quarantine here," Madsen said.
Madsen assured people that only the ER was under quarantine.
"Everything else is open, our patients are being treated. In light of today's climate, this was an appropriate and prudent thing to do," Madsen said.
Samples of the patient's pustules were sent to the Health Department in Topeka to be sure. Results came in around 6:00 p.m. Monday night that proved the man's illness to be severe chickenpox.
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