Young Phoenix Mom Dies 2 Days After Flu Diagnosis

PHOENIX, AZ — Two days after she got the flu, 20-year-old Alani “Joie” Murrieta, of Phoenix, was dead. Always a healthy woman, she took the doses of antiviral medication prescribed by a doctor and figured she’d get over it, as her two children and several others in her family had.

Murrieta got sick Thanksgiving weekend. She was sent home from work early on Sunday, Nov. 26, and was feeling so badly the next day that she went to urgent care, where the doctor prescribed Tamiflu. She was having difficulty breathing and coughing up blood the next morning. Doctors at Banner Estrella Medical Center said the flu had progressed to pneumonia. She was admitted, placed on an IV drip and antibiotics and eventually lost consciousness. She was placed on a ventilator, and then her heart stopped. The medical team tried to revive her, but couldn’t. She died the same day.

Murrieta’s aunt, Stephanie Gonzales, said her family’s tragedy carries an important warning for others.

“Don’t take life for granted,” Gonzales told CBS News. “If you feel sick, go to the doctor. Don’t wait until your symptoms are so bad there is no turning back. Know your body.”

Murrieta didn’t have a flu shot, but doctors said there was no way to know if that might have made a difference because this year’s flu shot doesn’t appear to be effective for the particular strain of flu she suffered, Gonzales said.

In Australia, where the flu season recently ended, the flu shot was only about 10 percent effective, CBS reported. The flu season in Australia typically sets the tone for what will happen in the United States. The dominant strain of the flu virus that has emerged this year is H3N2, The Washington Post reported.

“The H3N2 strain tends to make for a more severe disease, particularly among older people and people with underlying illness,” William Schaffner, a physician and infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, told The Post. “But it can affect any child or adult and literally make them gravely ill within 48 hours, to the point where they have to be in the hospital, in intensive care. This can and does happen.”

More than 6,000 cases of influenza have been confirmed in the United States so far this year, more than double the number reported at this time last year, and it’s widespread in Georgia, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Massachusetts, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The flu virus is constantly changing, so by the time vaccines are developed and put into production, a six- to eight-month process, the virus may have changed, Dr. Pardis Sabeti, a Harvard professor and infectious disease expert, told CBS.

But even at 10 percent effectiveness, this year’s flu shot is “better than nothing,” Sabeti said, noting “a lot has to do with herd immunity — the more people are protected from it, the more other people will also be protected.”

“In fact, in a year where it’s low effectiveness, it’s even more important that everybody get it so we can get as much resistance and we don’t allow the virus to thrive and grow and keep changing,” she said.

Every year since 2010, the flu virus has caused between 9.2 million and 35.6 million illnesses in the United States alone, the CDC estimates. The CDC recommends that everyone 6 months or older get the flu vaccine annually.

Flu vaccinations can significantly reduce a child’s chance of dying from the flu, according to a study this spring by the CDC.

“Every year CDC receives reports of children who died from the flu,” Brendan Flannery, PhD, lead author and epidemiologist in the Influenza Division, said in a statement. “This study tells us that we can prevent more of these deaths by vaccinating more.”

Murrieta’s family has established a GoFundMe account to raise money for a funeral they didn’t expect to be planning for the young mother with two sons, A.J., 2, and J.R., 6 months. More than $20,500 had been raised by Thursday night.

“Our family is devastated that she is gone,” Gonzales wrote on the crowdfunding page. “We will all stay strong her her boys and always keep her memory alive."

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Photo via GoFundMe