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UPDATE: Lockdown at St. Joseph London hospital lifted, ER still shut down


Officials tell us several people were treated for multiple symptoms and are feeling better.
Posted: 10:40 PM Nov 27, 2011


11:10pm Update:

We're told the lockdown at the hospital has been lifted. The ER is still shut down and is being decontaminated.


Officials say the family of five, an ER doctor and three other ER personnel were treated and are expected to be fine.

11pm Update:

Officials say around 7:00 Sunday night, a family of five from Jackson County started feeling sick, with headache, shortness of breath, sore throat and complained of their skin burning.

The family drove to Saint Joseph Hospital in London where they were treated in the ER, then taken to the hospital's decontamination unit.

About the same time, ER personnel started experiencing the same symptoms and were also taken to the decontamination unit.

Officials are not sure what caused the illness, but the family says they had contact with a stray dog earlier in the day.

The hospital remains on lockdown and Haz-Mat teams are standing by, but we are being told the family and the staff are feeling better and do not have life threatening injuries.

More on this story as we get it.

Original story:

We are following a developing story out of Laurel County.

Officials tell us St. Joseph London is on lockdown tonight.

We are told two people came into the hospital with a rash and now staff at the facility who treated the patients are showing similar symptoms.

A Haz-Mat crew is on the way to the hospital.

We are continuing to follow this story and will bring you the latest information as we get it.

A family of 5 who live near the Jackson-Rockcastle county line decided a trip to London’s St. Joseph Hospital was necessary after an encounter with a pit bill Sunday night.

“They thought they got it from a stray dog. After they petted the dog, touched their skin, it got worse,” said Mary Lou Young, the London hospital’s Director of Emergency Services.

A couple in their 20’s complained of burning skin, dizziness, and headaches. A 2 year old and two other adults were with them. But soon some hospital staff came down with the same symptoms.

“We activated our emergency response plan,” said Young.

Which meant the toddler, 4 adults, and some of the ER staff were decontaminated.

“They put on suits and respirators. They took the patients through the decontamination showers,” said Young.

The family lives off Ky. 89 in Jackson County and didn’t want to be identified. They told 27 NEWSFIRST that they believe someone just dropped off the stray dog near their home, and problems started when one of them simply petted it.

That dog was put down and officials considered sending it off to Frankfort for more testing. But the Jackson County emergency management director says initial tests tell them the chemical may have just been pepper spray. It’s possible someone sprayed the dog as a deterrent….and the chemical may have had a chain reaction effect.

“We decontaminated a total of 13 people, the victims, the staff,” said Young.

All are said to be doing just fine now.

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Poor dog, abandoned, pepper sprayed, and put down.....

If the family was able to pet the dog, it couldn't have been mean.
So lets just put it down before we know what is going on with it?

Wow, that is indeed awful.