State health officials confirm season’s first child flu death in Louisiana

By Greg LaRose
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — A spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Health confirmed Friday, December 22 of last year, the state’s first pediatric death from influenza this year. The name, age, location and actual date the child died were not provided.

Louisiana and South Carolina are the only two states the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have given its highest risk level for flu contagion.

The CDC estimates there have been at least 5.3 million cases of the flu in 2023, with some 54,000 hospitalization and 3,200 deaths.

Influenza A has been the most prevalent strain, accounting for nearly 82 percent of viruses public health laboratories have reported. Over the past week, the flu subtype A(H1N1) was found in 78 percent of all flu cases.

Health officials recommend everyone six months and older get an annual flu vaccine. Supplies are still available and will result in milder symptoms if the vaccine recipient contracts the virus.

The CDC reports the current vaccine has proven effective against the most prominent strain, but fewer people are getting their annual flu shots this year. As of the first week of December, 2023, only 42 percent of U.S. adults had been vaccinated against the flu, down from 45 percent the prior year.

This article originally published in the January 1, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.