NORTH COLLEGE HILL -- Like most rough-and-tumble boys his age, Tony Harrison, 11, a fifth-grader at Becker Elementary School, loved to in-line skate, ride bikes and play video games.
While in-line skating last week,Tony fell and cut his left side. Three days later,he died on the bathroom floor of his home from complications of a strep A infection.
On Tuesday_ the first day back from spring break -- Tony's classmates were given the chance to talk about their friend with grief counselors.
"I look at it like God took him for a reason. God figured his work was done here and took him," his mother, Shannon Lunkenheimer, 28, said through tears.
Hamilton County's coroner, Dr. Carl Parrott Jr., said Tony died of a systemic spread of a wound infection. He developed a group A strep sepsis -- a term used when an infection spreads to the bloodstream. The coroner said the case was extremely rare.
A culture taken at Children's Hospital Medical Center tested positive for streptococcus A, according to the Cincinnati Health Department.
Dr. Judith S. Daniels, medical director for the Cincinnati Health Department, said the health department has received frantic calls from parents with children who have cultured positive for strep. "We are trying to help the public understand this is a dreadful event. Few will go on to this terrible outcome," she said.
About 50 students called in sick on Tuesday at Becker Elementary -- well above the average of 15-20 -- and the school received another 50 calls from worried parents, school officials said.
Letters were sent home with students attending Becker Elementary School, Clovernook Elementary School and North College Hill Middle School. "We sent the letter home so parents will not be afraid of sending their children to school," said Becker Elementary School Principal Mary E. Senter.
"We have been in contact with health departments in both Cincinnati and Hamilton County and they have assured us that your children are in no danger by attending school," Ms. Senter said in the letter to parents.
Soon after her son fell Monday, Mrs. Lunkenheimer tended to his wound. After he complained of pain, she took him to Franciscan Hospital -- Mount Airy on Wednesday. He was later transferred to Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Medical personnel at Children's gave him medicine for the swelling in his side and a medication for the pain. The next morning, Mrs. Lunkenheimer was jarred by cries from her son saying he could not breathe.
He was in the bathroom with the door locked. When his parents got the door open, the child fell at his mother's feet.
His father administered CPR, but by the time the ambulance arrived Tony's heart stopped beating and he was turning blue, his mother said.
Tony was pronounced dead shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday morning. His funeral and burial were Monday.
That same day, teachers at his school met with a school psychologist on how to deal with grieving students when they returned.
"His friends are having a hard time with him not being there anymore. It's hard because this is not something you expect to happen," Ms. Senter said. "Kids are supposed to be healthy. Dying is something for older people."
Tony's classmates are talking about designing a shirt with his picture on it and hanging it in his classroom, Ms. Senter said. "We are trying to keep things as normal as we can, but we will still have support for those who need it," Ms. Senter said.
Tony was quiet and very creative, she added, pointing to a small, pink swan he had made from paper for her.
Invasive strep cases are rare. Serious cases occur when people get the bacteria through an open wound or other method that allows the bacteria to enter and multiply in the bloodstream. Children's Hospital Medical Center, which treats patients from throughout the Tristate, reports treating 13 cases of invasive group A strep in 1995; seven cases in 1996; and 16 cases in 1997.
