CHERRY HILL, N.J. (AP) — A mysterious illness killed one woman attending a weekend convention and sent seven others to hospitals, but health officials said Sunday they didn't think anyone else who didn't already have symptoms would get sick.
The woman, who died early Sunday at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals-Cherry Hill, had a viral, flulike illness for about two days before becoming seriously ill Saturday night, said Dr. David V. Condoluci, chief of infectious diseases for Kennedy Health System.
Joanne Hemstreet, 45, of Kingston, Mass., was attending a national sales convention at the Cherry Hill Hilton with about 500 other employees of Cendant Mortgage.
"We do not know the exact cause of her demise," Condoluci said at a news conference outside the hospital in this Philadelphia suburb. "This looks like possibly a case of pneumococcal pneumonia," worsened by a subsequent, aggressive bacterial infection.