The flu is insidious and can kill in a couple of days: the story of a family that lost a 3-year-old child

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 16 people have died from the flu this season, and at least 000 deaths have been in children. CNN.

Photo: IStock

Seasonal influenza activity is still widespread in the United States, but has been declining in most regions in recent weeks. However, public health officials are urging people to get an annual flu shot as the best way to protect themselves from the virus.

How the flu can be deadly

The most common flu symptoms are high fever, body aches and chills. In some cases, this can cause a lower respiratory infection known as pneumonia or directly infect heart and brain cells, causing inflammation in those organs, said Dr. Tara Vijayan, an infectious disease physician at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.

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She added that inflammation can lead to the death of the body's own cells.

"More often than not, however, when influenza causes severe illness, it is because it destroys the lining of the airways so that the lungs become more susceptible to other bacterial pneumonias," Vijayan said. “Typically, those who are unvaccinated and have multiple health problems or lower immune systems are at greatest risk, but we have also seen young, healthy people die.”

She added that older people or those who are pregnant are also at high risk of complications.

Treating patients with severe flu is a frequent but difficult task for Dr. Aly Khan, who specializes in internal medicine at the Oak Street Health primary care network in Chicago.

"It's incredibly difficult for a clinician to watch this infection," Khan said, adding that flu infections can become fatal when someone gets a bacterial infection, such as pneumonia, or someone develops severe sepsis.

“We get people who come to hospital with seizures or encephalitis caused by influenza. People are coming in with significant muscle pain and distress, like the kind you get when you're severely dehydrated and overly fatigued,” he said. “Suffice it to say, I have seen this far more times than I would like to see as a clinician.”

Khan said it's not too late to get your flu shot this season if you haven't already.

Vijayans had similar feelings.

“Influenza rates were unexpectedly high in the late fall and appear to be leveling off. But I would be absolutely concerned about another increase in cases this winter,” she said. “It’s absolutely never too late to get a flu shot.”

Kayden's story

Jessica Richman felt fear wash over her again.

In October, she watched her 3-year-old daughter Layla become unusually lethargic, develop a high fever and become short of breath. It was a painful reminder of her other daughter, Kayden, who died of the flu in December 2014.

Kayden was the same age as Layla.

“These were very similar symptoms to Kayden's. So, of course, I turned on at full capacity, ”said Richman.

When Layla began experiencing symptoms on Halloween, Richman took her to an emergency clinic in their hometown of Newport News, Virginia.

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“Her pulse was racing. Her temperature was very high. They kept her there most of the day to monitor her, Richman said. “I explained to the doctor who was there that my 3-year-old daughter died of the flu, so it was very scary for me. He really took it to heart."

Layla's medical team diagnosed her with the flu and gave her Motrin for her fever and the antiviral Tamiflu to treat the infection.

“She felt better pretty quickly, within 24 hours,” Richman said.

This treatment during this flu season was starkly different from the experience of 2014, when she lost her beloved Kayden. One key difference: Kayden was not vaccinated in 2014. Layla was vaccinated in September.

“I really think the vaccine played a big role,” said Richman, secretary for the nonprofit Families Fighting Flu.

Although Layla became ill when she was exposed to the flu a few weeks after her vaccination, "she recovered quickly," Richman said, adding that none of their family, which also includes her husband Matt and their 6-year-old son , Parker - didn't get the flu from Layla.

All of them were vaccinated before Leila's illness.

“No one seems to have thought it was the flu.”

Many people who have not received a seasonal flu shot are not necessarily opposed to vaccination. Perhaps they just didn't have the time. So it was with Kayden in 2014.

That same year, Richman and Kayden's father got flu shots, but Kayden's vaccination had to be rescheduled because she had a cold at the time.

“Because I was also ill-informed about the flu at the time, I didn’t feel the urgency to go and give her a flu shot as soon as she got better,” Richman said. “I sort of put it off.”

One Thursday a few weeks later, Kayden was not herself. Usually talkative and cheerful, the 3-year-old girl was tired and began to cough. She did not go to kindergarten, her father took her to the pediatrician.

According to Richman, the doctor thought Cayden's symptoms were likely caused by a cold virus and sent her home without testing for the flu.

The next morning, Kayden still had a high fever. She coughed and constantly asked for water. Her father took her back to the pediatrician's office, but they were sent home again.

“No one tested her for the flu. Nobody seemed to think it was the flu,” Richman said. She was sent home on Friday afternoon. When they returned home, Kayden's symptoms worsened."

“She faded away very, very quickly before our eyes. This happened over the course of several hours,” Richman said. “She had very labored, shallow breathing. She wasn't breathing properly."

Richman said that she was driving home from work when Kayden's father called her: Kayden stopped breathing during sleep. He called 911. Richman arrived home to find ambulances in front of her house and paramedics fighting for Cayden's life.

“She could not be resuscitated in the house,” Richman said. “They didn’t tell me in the ambulance that she could no longer be revived.” I saw no signs of life on my daughter in the ambulance. That’s how I realized it was all over.”

When Kaeden died, her parents didn't know it was due to the flu.

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“It wasn't until we got the autopsy results that I clearly knew it was the flu, which caused her lungs to fill with mucus so she couldn't breathe anymore,” Richman said. “I had no idea what happened until we got the autopsy results.”

Before Cayden's tragic death, her mother didn't know that the flu could be deadly.

“I was completely flabbergasted,” she said. “I had no idea this could ever happen.”

Nearly a decade later, Richman and her family get yearly flu shots in Cayden's memory. They wear pink and share it on social media using the hashtag #pinkforcadybug, as pink was Cayden's favorite color.

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