PILSEN — Newly released autopsy results for the 5-year-old boy who died while staying in a city-run migrant shelter show he died from sepsis due to an infection, and viruses were contributing factors.
Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero, 5, died Dec. 17 at Comer Children’s Hospital after paramedics took him there from the migrant shelter at 2241 S. Halsted St., where he’d been staying with his family, officials said.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Jean Carlos died of sepsis to due a “widespread bacterial infection” of Group A Streptococcus pyogenes. The boy also had COVID-19, adenovirus and rhinovirus/enterovirus, according to the autopsy results. His cause of death was ruled “natural.”
The report didn’t indicate how or when Jean Carlos was infected or how or when he caught these viruses.
Jean Carlos and his family arrived at the city’s landing zone for migrants Nov. 30. They were taken to the Halsted Street shelter the same day, officials previously said.
On the day Jean Carlos died, his family had left the shelter for part of the day. Throughout the day, he was lethargic, vomiting and appeared pale, according to the medical examiner’s case report. The evening before, he had a fever and his mother gave him Tylenol, according to the report.
Shortly before Jean Carlos was taken to the hospital, his eyes rolled back and he had “seizure-like activity,” according to the report.
Shelter staff called 911 and did chest compressions on Jean Carlos until paramedics arrived, the city previously said.
Jean Carlos was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Group A Streptococcus pyogenes is a bacteria generally causing throat and skin infections, but it can lead to sepsis, a severe immune response of the body
against its own organs, according to the medical examiner’s report.
“This can lead to septic shock and severe organ dysfunction, especially in children,” according to the report.
The risk of death is also greater when someone has other viral infections, according to the report.Â
Migrants have reported substandard conditions at the Pilsen shelter. The six-story building opened to migrants in October and was housing about 2,500 people as of earlier this year, according to city documents.
Migrants told Borderless Magazine late last year the building is frigid, dusty, cramped and has dirty bathrooms and sometimes spoiled food. They also reported mistreatment from shelter workers and outbreaks of chickenpox, the flu and upper respiratory infections with insufficient medical attention given to those who’ve been ill.
Chicago has received about 35,500 migrants since August 2022, according to city data.
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