NASCAR world mourns driver Kyle Busch as tributes pour in on social media
The racing world mourned the sudden death of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, and social media quickly filled with tributes from fans.
Kyle Busch won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race a week before his death. He was 41 years old and apparently in good health, but later died of pneumonia. This is something I often hear about taking an elderly grandfather, rather than a professional athlete, with him during the season.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion died after severe pneumonia progressed to sepsis. He had been feeling unwell for several weeks and called for a doctor during the Cup race at Watkins Glen on May 10th. Fox Sports reported that he was battling a sinus cold. A week after winning the Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, he said he had a really bad cough. On May 20, when an ambulance was called, he was sitting on the bathroom floor, coughing up blood and hot to the touch. He passed away on May 21st.
The horse racing world remains in shock. Other than that, many people are asking the same thing. “How could that happen to someone his age?”
USA TODAY spoke with Dr. Ryan Maves, director of critical care medicine and infectious disease physician at Wake Forest University. He was not involved in Bush’s treatment. He was careful to say that everything he provided was based on limited public information.
He didn’t sugar coat it.
“Everything he had was strange and unusual,” Maves said.
It is rare for a 41-year-old to die from pneumonia.
Very. “Roughly 1% of people in their 40s who get sick enough to be hospitalized with pneumonia will die from it,” Marves said.
Age changes mathematics rapidly. By the 60’s the hospital mortality rate rises to about 4%. For older patients with serious underlying conditions, the rate can reach 25%.
For a man of Bush’s age who appears to be healthy and well-cared for, Maves was not risk-averse.
“That’s very unusual,” he said. “It’s very, very rare.”
What exactly is pneumonia?
Pneumonia is a broad term. It usually means inflammation of the lungs due to an infection. Most of what people see in their daily lives is viral. A common cold virus that infects the nose, throat, and lungs.
Bacterial pneumonia tends to be a completely different animal.
People die from pneumonia in several different ways. The lungs fill with fluid and stop taking in oxygen. The infection causes the body to go into shock. If you lie still for several days, a blood clot may form and break off, reaching your lungs. There is no single path and they all overlap and can make care difficult.
where sepsis occurs
Sepsis occurs when the body’s response to infection becomes ineffective and begins to destroy itself. Infections cause inflammation everywhere at once, setting off a chain reaction that brings down multiple organ systems. Septic shock, a severe and persistent drop in blood pressure, rapidly increases the risk of death.
Pneumonia is one of the most common causes of sepsis. It doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it can move frighteningly fast.
clue
Mr. Maves was careful to say that he did not have access to Mr. Bush’s medical records and had no special knowledge of what happened at the Charlotte hospital. What he presented was the idea of an experienced critical care doctor.
Two things stood out to him. Mr. Bush had been ill for several weeks and was later in critical condition. And when 911 was called, he was vomiting blood.
Maves said that pneumonia after certain viral infections may mean that the lungs are damaged enough for a secondary bacterial infection to take hold. Doctors call this a bacterial superinfection.
“It starts with a viral pneumonia and then a bacterial superinfection,” he says. “Typically it’s influenza, but other viruses can be transmitted as well.”
He pointed out that the bacteria that could exploit this were serious. Certain types of staphylococcal and streptococcal pneumonia develop quickly and do not take long to treat.
“These can be very serious and can progress very quickly,” Marves said. “It comes to mind often when I think of the young man who died of pneumonia after a previous illness.”
What people should learn from this
Mavs doesn’t want people to panic. It is rare for a healthy 41-year-old to die from pneumonia. He wants people to consider that if they get sick, others around them may not be so lucky.
“The best way to deal with pneumonia is to prevent it,” Maves said. He recommended that people over 50 and younger people with asthma, heart disease, kidney disease or diabetes get the vaccine. Additionally, annual flu shots and other vaccinations are available as recommended by your doctor.
“At age 41, the risk of dying from pneumonia is very, very, very low,” Marbeth said. “But you have grandparents. Part of prevention is not only for ourselves, but also for the vulnerable people around us.”
