Woman with mysterious rash discharged from hospital

November 27, 2002

Saturday, November 16, 2002

Associated Press

NORTH FORT MYERS - The woman who developed a mysterious rash and caused the

brief lockdown of two hospitals last month is recovering at home, but she

says she's now experiencing a new kind of suffering.

Ann Hawkins, 59, said the attention her illness received, and the early

fears that she contracted smallpox, scared her friends away.

" Now I know how they feel in one of those leper colonies, " Hawkins said.

" Nobody comes by to see me anymore. I want people to understand I'm not

contagious or anything. "

Hawkins was admitted to Cape Coral Hospital on Oct. 22 with a fever and

dime-sized black sores, the origin of which still has doctors baffled. Tests

for smallpox, shingles, measles, staph infections, adverse reaction to

medications and chicken pox all came back negative.

But the stigma that she is contagious remains, she said.

" It's very, very hurtful, " Hawkins said. " I tell myself it's OK, they just

don't know, but it still hurts. "

Cape Coral was locked down for four hours after Hawkins was admitted, until

medical workers could rule out smallpox. Lee Memorial Hospital was also

locked down for about an hour that afternoon, because it was unclear whether

the paramedics who brought Hawkins to Cape Coral had been to that facility

as well.

Hawkins is still sick, occasionally battling diarrhea and vomiting, and some

new sores have developed since her release from Cape Coral Hospital on Oct.

30. Most of the sores have gone away, however, and doctors are hopeful that

antibiotics and bed rest will solve her problem.

" I'm still the same person I was before all this happened, " Hawkins said. " I

want people to know that. "

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