Shocking: Deadly Flu Season Is Taking Lives

Getting sick is no walk in the park. Despite how you feel the world moves forward, and things need to get done, especially if you have a family.

As the popular saying goes, “Moms don’t get sick days.” Children can’t go without eating, drinking, or being cared for, even if you have to crawl to the kitchen.

When your child is sick, all you want to do is take their sickness from them. You would give anything to be back to crawling to the kitchen if they could find some relief.

This flu season, officially beginning in October 2017, has been horrendous. It strikes without warning, and shows no mercy to anyone; children and the elderly especially.

Fox News reported:

The flu season that’s already been the worst in nearly a decade is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, according to the latest report released Friday from the nation’s health protection agency.

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the flu that is blanketing every state except Hawaii is growing more intense and deadly. So far this season, the flu has claimed the lives of at least 30 children, according to the latest CDC report.”

We aren’t even at the end of the flu season yet, with a month to go death tolls could rise and new strands could appear.

The CDC is able to track the severity of the flu by monitoring doctor and hospital visits where patients exhibit cold or flu symptoms.

Thirty-two states reported high patient traffic last week, up from 26 the previous week”, Fox News revealed.

It seemed no one anticipated such widespread and extreme illness. Dr. Dan Jernigan, of the CDC, told the Associated PressThis is a season that has a lot more steam than we thought.”

There is more than one strand of flu virus that is circulating the continental United States, but the one taking lives and interrupting people’s day to day living is the Influenza A (H3N2) virus.

Epidemiologist Lynnette Brammer, leader of CDC’s Domestic Influenza Surveillance Team, told Fox News that, “It affects the elderly and the very young.”

It is not uncommon for people to die every year of the flu. This year is exceptional in that not just elderly and children are dying, but perfectly healthy young adults.

“A 10-year-old Connecticut boy died of flu. So did a 21-year-old bodybuilder, and 4-year-old Jonah Reiben of Dayton, Ohio” have lost their lives to H3N2 already, among many more, according to NBC News.

Also, reports from the CDC show how the virus has spread across the entire United States at once; this catastrophic expanse of the flu is not common.

Lives everywhere are being disrupted. Many facilities had to close their doors or alter schedules because they could not operate with the large number of illnesses infecting those within.

Fox News reported:

In Oklahoma and Texas, some school districts canceled classes this week because so many students and teachers were sick with the flu and other illnesses.

 In Washington state, flu deaths spiked dramatically in the last week, Q13 FOX reported. The Washington State Department of Health reported 86 deaths so far have been linked to the flu as of Friday.

 In Mississippi, flu outbreaks have hit more than 100 nursing homes and other long-term care places, resulting in some restricting visitors.”

The best medicine is being preventative of contracting the virus, to begin with. Make sure to stay away from those you know are sick, wash your hands frequently, sanitize public items you have to handle, such as shopping carts, pens, and gas pumps.

Use the same rule of thumb for children. It may be a good idea to limit play dates until the season has passed, make sure to wash their hands frequently and be careful with them crawling on or touching public areas.

If you, or a family member, does get sick, use your gut and your knowledge of your family to evaluate if the symptoms warrant an emergency visit, or some TLC and R&R.

Dr. Don Schaffer, managing partner of Pediatrics of Greater Houston, told ABC News:

“I don’t like anyone to go to an emergency room unless it’s an emergency,” Schaffer said. “If you’re having trouble breathing or persistent vomiting, you need to go the emergency room. If you just have a fever, you can come in the next morning.”

There are more particular behaviors that you can watch for, to know if the deadly flu virus has breached your front door.

Dr. Joshua Schaffzin, pediatric infectious diseases physician and director of infection, prevention and control at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital told ABC News when the emergency room visit is necessary:

If your kid is not getting better and getting dehydrated, not peeing much, feeling listless, then it’s reasonable to go to the ER,” he said. “If your child is having difficulty breathing or their lips are turning blue, it’s an indication of not getting enough oxygen so that would be a trip.”

He added, “Also check their hands and feet and see how pink they are. If the hands and feet feel cold, then you would consider going to the emergency room because it could be a sign the heart is not getting oxygen efficiently everywhere.”

For the “vast majority” of kids, according to Schaffzin, flu symptoms can be controlled with fluids, rest and controlling the fever and body aches with over-the-counter medications.”

Most mothers have good instinct as to what is best for their children. Use the remedies you have available, but if you feel that relief is getting farther and farther away, get professional medical help in combating the illness.

It is horrifying that in an age of medical revelations and brilliance we are still being struck down by the thousands due to the common flu virus.

This goes to show that human hands are far from the ultimate protectors of our fate.

Please let us know in the comments section if you have contracted the flu virus this season, and what you found gives relief, if any.