The U.S. flu outbreak claimed the life of a 12-year-old boy in Florida who died just a day after first showing symptoms – the latest in a growing number of children to die quickly after showing signs they had this deadly form of influenza, BBC News reported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 30 children across the country have died from the flu this season, with a total of 3,000 people succumbing to either pneumonia or influenza.
Dylan Winnick displayed flu like symptoms on Monday and the following day he had died.
Health officials are reluctant to pin the death on the virus however Winnick’s family members suspect that his death is linked to the flu, NBC News reported.
The boy’s father, Mike Medwin, told the Palm Beach Post that the boy’s symptoms did not seem serious at the time, but pointed out that his son had not gotten a flu shot.
Last week a 6-year-old girl in North Carolina also died from flu shortly after she fell ill, NBC said.
Emily Muth’s parents called an ambulance when her breathing became labored but paramedics said the girl had flu and would get better soon.
Hours after the ambulance left, she died.
On Jan. 16, an eight-year-old boy, Tyler Dannaway, of Little Rock, Arkansas, died days after developing flu-like symptoms, The Washington Times reported.
Another recent victim was 40-year-old mother of three, Katie Denise Oxley Thomas, BBC said.
Hospitals across the country are reporting a surge of patients, with some forced to erect overflow tents to treat the influx, BBC noted.
Dr. Jaimie Snarski, an assistant medical director for the emergency department at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, told the Palm Beach Post that the hospital had to clear out a storage area to treat patients.
Meanwhile at least a dozen schools have had to shut their doors as the epidemic spreads.
“What has made this [year] set apart for us is the degree of severity and how far it's been spread,” Jill Siler, superintendent of the Gunter Independent School District in Texas, told Newsweek. “It's unlike anything we've seen before.”
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