A 33-month-old child had a manageable fever one afternoon while in daycare. Her sudden death the same night demanded interference of forensic medical professionals. The 30 other children attending the same daycare were also put under an epidemiologic scan as the cause of death was a common childhood viral co-infection, acute respiratory distress syndrome due to human metapneumovirus (hMPV) infection. 1 Clinical presentation A 33-month-old girl was brought to an emergency department, sometime between midnight and 3:30 am and was announced dead.
Patient background One day in the winter season, at daycare, the girl was noted to be somewhat unwell. She had a well-tolerated fever in the afternoon, which was resolved by paracetamol. As anything abnormal was not reported by the parents, she did not require any further medical attention. Forensic insights Forensic investigation was warranted…
