Woman dies, three fall ill aboard Toronto-bound VIA Rail train

Woman dies, three fall ill aboard Toronto-bound VIA Rail train

metronews.ca

An elderly woman is dead and three other passengers were taken to hospital Saturday after developing flu-like symptoms on an eastbound VIA Rail train.

The train, headed to Toronto from Vancouver, was stopped in Parry Sound, Ont., for six hours starting at 5 a.m. after an 86-year-old woman was reported to be unconscious and unresponsive. Emergency crews boarded the train and confirmed the woman had died.

The two compartments occupied by the passengers were quarantined, and the train arrived in Toronto just before 4 p.m.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Is this the beginning of an outbreak? Time to panic??!

Before anyone gets their hazmat suits on - what's weird is I did a search for this before posting and thought it actually already had been:

Via Rail train quarantined in Northern Ontario after mystery illness hits passengers and one woman dies

...until I realized that ATS thread is over 4 years old. Eerily similar though.

I wouldn't say there's anything out of the ordinary about an 86-yr old woman unfortunately passing away from flu-like symptoms in mid-winter, but the fact that a number of other passengers were taken to hospital as well is a little disconcerting.

Details so far appear sketchy though and it remains to be seen just how ill these other passengers are.

In any case it seems officials were satisfied enough to continue on and send the train to it's destination in Toronto (which makes me feel great since that happens to be where I live lol). Will keep my eye on this story I guess.

metronews.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

Very odd that the two stories are similar!!
This needs to be kept an eye on for sure!!

Everyone stock up on your N95 masks!

reply to post by mc_squared


They could have sneezed and they hauled them away to hospital just to make sure. Let's wait until some more info comes out.

Before anyone gets their hazmat suits on - what's weird is I did a search for this before posting and thought it actually already had been:

Via Rail train quarantined in Northern Ontario after mystery illness hits passengers and one woman dies

...until I realized that ATS thread is over 4 years old. Eerily similar though.

Weird!!
As if they used the same event again to test how much fear it can create 4 years later.
Must be some hot rails over there. You sneeze and the hazard suit team comes in.
Strange...

The way I read the story from your link is that she boarded the train WITH relatives and all were traveling together in 2 compartments and these relatives of the dead 86 year old are the ones who were also sick with flu-like symptoms. And it even states that no other passengers or crew were exposed to the ill. So to me it doesn't sound like a fast spreading illness but a family who were all sick before the train ride and the elder and weakest member fell to the illness.

Or am I misreading this story?

reply to post by Carreau


Well it says she boarded the train with 2 relatives but 3 "other passengers" were taken to hospital, so the math doesn't add up.

It could be possible that 2 of those other passengers were her relatives and the 3rd was someone who happened to have a cold in the next cabin over - but like I said, details are sketchy at the moment, so we'll just have to wait and see.

reply to post by Snaffers


Sure sounds like recicled news to see how the population reacts to me too. They can easily watch the sale of masks, guns, and also social media hype thru new technology. I wonder who's watching us?!

On topic.
I have seen on the news something about a few cruise ship passengers fallin sick. Could we relate this to methane release on the rise?

reply to post by Carreau


As vague as the article is that is also what I got from reading it. I agree with you. It seems two others boarded with the now deceased so it's likely they brought the illness with them which got the better of the elderly woman through out the six hour train ride.

I doubt it's a pandemic or anything even close but it shows how one will happen on a small scale. Loved ones dying while yourself is sick and unable to help them.

I know this world is due for another outbreak like the Spanish Influenza in 1918 but I hope it's after my time on this rock. I can't even imagine how tragic it would be at our population levels.

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
reply to post by Carreau

 

I can't even imagine how tragic it would be at our population levels.

Tragic isn't even the word to use to describe it! I think it would be worse
And Hopefully its after I pass and my great grandchildren pass too....

Though the article was vague, I am wondering who the third person who was taken to the hospital was since the elderly lady only came onboard with 2 relatives. Was this person taken to the hospital for developing symptoms or was this person merely exposed and taken to the hospital as a precaution?

A post-mortem examination should be done today.

Originally posted by Starwise

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
reply to post by Carreau

 

I can't even imagine how tragic it would be at our population levels.

Tragic isn't even the word to use to describe it! I think it would be worse

And Hopefully its after I pass and my great grandchildren pass too....

Yea tragic may not be enough of a describer. I look at my children and know the inevitability of an outbreak and it saddens me to the core. I see how quickly they bring illnesses home from school and then spread it to my wife and I. Then in return we spread it on to our co-workers or vice verse.

If any pandemic comes it will be so rapid and devastating that many will be infected before they even know how deadly it is and this scares the bejeezus out of me. Many can prepare with Hazmat suits and masks but in reality we may contract this virus before we even know to prepare for it.

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive

Originally posted by Starwise

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
reply to post by Carreau

 

I can't even imagine how tragic it would be at our population levels.

Tragic isn't even the word to use to describe it! I think it would be worse

And Hopefully its after I pass and my great grandchildren pass too....

Yea tragic may not be enough of a describer. I look at my children and know the inevitability of an outbreak and it saddens me to the core. I see how quickly they bring illnesses home from school and then spread it to my wife and I. Then in return we spread it on to our co-workers or vice verse.

If any pandemic comes it will be so rapid and devastating that many will be infected before they even know how deadly it is and this scares the bejeezus out of me. Many can prepare with Hazmat suits and masks but in reality we may contract this virus before we even know to prepare for it.

That's almost fear-mongering mate but I know it's also probably true. Terrorists with biological weapons, next false-flag anyone?

Originally posted by mc_squared

Is this the beginning of an outbreak? Time to panic??!

No, and it is never a good time to panic.

Originally posted by Starwise

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
reply to post by Carreau

 

I can't even imagine how tragic it would be at our population levels.

Tragic isn't even the word to use to describe it! I think it would be worse

And Hopefully its after I pass and my great grandchildren pass too....

Biological weapons, bio-terrorism, will manifest themselves in time.

There are no real better ways to reduce global human populations than the above.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
OF MASS DESTRUCTION

> It is not known who is in possession of biological Weapons
of Mass Destruction.

> Medical experts do not know if bacteria have been
engineered to be resistant to antibiotics.

> Experts do not know how potent the strains will be in a
biological attack.

> Experts do not know if the illnesses caused by some of these
agents will be immediately recognizable.

> There is disagreement on how long some of these agents can
survive in the environment.

> Experts do not know if the diseases these agents cause will
be the same as past epidemics (e.g., is today’s smallpox the
same as the disease that was eradicated?).

www.phe.gov...

It isn't what they don't know that should worry you now, it is what they do know and are keeping quiet about that should.

Good luck.

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive


Yea tragic may not be enough of a describer. I look at my children and know the inevitability of an outbreak and it saddens me to the core. I see how quickly they bring illnesses home from school and then spread it to my wife and I. Then in return we spread it on to our co-workers or vice verse.

If any pandemic comes it will be so rapid and devastating that many will be infected before they even know how deadly it is and this scares the bejeezus out of me. Many can prepare with Hazmat suits and masks but in reality we may contract this virus before we even know to prepare for it.

Thing is if a deadly pandemic spread there would be no work or school. The country (at least the UK) would be shut down while the diseases burned out.

I know Im a microbioligist and have seen the semi secret plans in place incase a deadly pandemic. The UK at least knows it will happen at some point and has plans in place to minimise death. Basicly the plan would be tempory martial law where evryone would be more or less confined to the home with the exception of vital civil servents and those in other vital jobs. Litraly the the UK would be quarantined.

reply to post by crazyewok


How can you be a microbiologist when you can't even spell the word?

reply to post by mc_squared


Could be something to do with this : news.sky.com...

This Norovirus apparently is really bad when picked up and it's doing its rounds over in Europe at the moment...

Some of the news More than 400 passengers and crew have been sick with vomiting and diarrhoea as suspected norovirus hits two cruise ships sailing in the Caribbean.

Both luxury liners, the Queen Mary 2 and the Emerald Princess, reported the outbreak to the Centres for Disease Control, following guidelines that come into play when more than 2% of the passengers and crew are laid low.

The US public health agency said it was still conducting lab tests to determine the pathogen, but it said norovirus was suspected.

On Cunard's Queen Mary 2, which left New York on December 22 for a 10-day cruise, 194 passengers and 11 crew members of the more than 3,800 people were reported ill, the CDC said.

And on the Emerald Princess, owned by Princess Cruises, which returned to Fort Lauderdale on December 27, 189 passengers and 31 crew members of the more than 4,400 people on board fell sick, the CDC said.

reply to post by mc_squared


This just in... octogenarian dies of flu and gives it to her fellow passengers Later we'll give you a shocking revelation, the sky is in fact blue and there's nothing we can do!

Sorry couldn't resist

I mean, its such a small little segment accounting what happened with little or no info, ive caught flu real quickly before and being in something like a train cabin hardly helps the situation. Taking the others to hospital who thought they felt ill wouldn't be a bad thing (and hey if some old chick died in my cabin from an illness id be looking at every choke, cough wheeze or light headiness i felt for a few days after... its only human), since who knows what she might have had... but an 86 year old dying in public is hardly a rare thing. Pneumonia kills thousands of old people every year during winter, this one was just stubborn enough and strong enough to get on a train while she had it. Heck we had some guy found in a park a few days back dead, police say nothing suspicious about it so guess he just karked it... or where under attack.

Guess possible gov or terrorist bio attack sounds cooler...