The flu season has been particularly rough in New York City this year with four pediatric deaths from the virus reported in the city, all in January, according to New York State Health Department.
The flu has been spreading across the country, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seeing epidemic levels of flu activity late last month.
There have been 15 flu-related pediatric deaths in the nation during this current flu season, the CDC reported last week.
New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania all reported high levels of flu-like activity, according to a CDC flu report last week.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said while the deaths are tragic, the New York cases are not unusual for the flu season. The New York State Department of Health did not disclose the ages of the children or whether they had been vaccinated or had an underlying condition that would have put them at additional risk for complications.
“Every year in our pediatric emergency room come children who are otherwise clearly healthy and they are seriously ill with the flu,” Schaffner said of Vanderbilt. “The lesson is that flu can strike even healthy children.”
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SOURCE: ABC News, Gillian Mohney