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[Kristof]

Another mysterious dead at Disney World (Typhoon Lagoon) has been resolved:

A 12-year-old Newport News girl who died after collapsing at a Disney theme park in August succumbed to an unidentified viral infection that reached her heart, a Florida medical examiner said Tuesday.
Jerra Kirby was visiting Disney's Typhoon Lagoon on Aug. 4 with her aunt and cousins when she fell ill and passed out. Lifeguards performed CPR, but she was pronounced dead later that day at a hospital in Celebration, Fla.

An autopsy revealed that Jerra died of myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart. Jerra had enlarged lymph nodes, which often swell as a result of an infection, according to the District Nine Medical Examiner's Office, which covers Orange and Osceola counties.

Jerra could not have gotten the infection at the park, said Sheri Blanton, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office. "It would have to have been in her system for days," she said.

Blanton said the examiner's office was not able to determine what kind of virus struck Jerra or where she might have gotten it. The report does not mention whether Jerra had any symptoms before she collapsed at the pool, Blanton said. Lifeguards noticed Jerra lying on a ledge near the water, and asked if she was OK.

She said she was fine, got up, and then passed out, police said.

Jerra was an honor roll student at Hines Middle School and was excited to travel with relatives to Florida, her mother Stormetta Kirby said shortly after her death.

Stormetta Kirby could not be reached for comment Tuesday. She said in August that Jerra was a healthy child who had only suffered a few colds in her life.

Jerra was the second child to die while at Walt Disney World in a matter of months. The medical examiner's office said Tuesday that the cause of death of the other child, 4-year-old Daudi Bamuwamye, was also natural.

Daudi was riding Mission: Space at EPCOT in June when he died of a cardiac arrhythmia brought on by heart disease. The child had an abnormal heart muscle, likely a congenital defect that put him at a high risk for sudden death, the medical examiner's office said.

The office says the risk of death can increase in physically or emotionally stressful situations.

Officials from Disney did not return a call for comment.

The company released a statement saying, "Our sympathies are with the families during this difficult time. In regard to the reports, we believe they speak for themselves."

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