First state child dies of flu

One of nine new flu fatalities reported from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1

The state has seen its first pediatric death of the season, the Connecticut Department of Public Health reported Thursday.

In a news release, state health officials offered few details, but stated the child was between 1 and 5 years old and was one of nine new flu-related fatalities during the week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1. A total of 32 flu-related deaths have been reported in Connecticut this season.

“The death of any child is an absolute tragedy, and our hearts go out the Connecticut family who lost their child last week,” said Connecticut DPH Commissioner Renée D. Coleman-Mitchell in a news release. “I want to remind

Connecticut residents that influenza is the virus that we are most worried about right now.”

She said this is the height of flu season, and estimated that 10 to 15 percent of Connecticut residents will have the flu before the season is over.

So far this flu season, at least 6,404 people have tested positive

for the flu, and 1,366 have been hospitalized.

Last flu season, a total of 88 flu-related deaths including one pediatric death were reported. However, the preceding season was a particularly bad one in Connecticut, with 184 flu-related deaths, including those of three children. At the time, it was called the deadliest flu season the state had seen in five years.

Children are one of the groups at highest risk of complications from the flu.

Others include pregnant women, people with certain chronic health conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease or lung disease, and people 65 years and older.

In her statement, Coleman-Mitchell encouraged people to get a flu shot; other experts in the region echoed those thoughts.

Earlier in the week, Dr. Goran Miljkovic, an infectious disease physician at Bridgeport Hospital, encouraged people to get a flu shot and to be aware of their flu risk.

“There’s definitely a high activity of flu in the area,” he said.