By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A nine-year-old Hiawatha, Kansas girl has died from the flu, bringing home the very real dangers of a common illness.
Clinic Supervisor with the St. Joseph Health Department, Connie Werner, says too often people hear the statistics associated with the flu and dismiss them.
“Unfortunately, we now have a face to that statistic and so we want people to continue to be aware that the flu, for a certain population, can get bad quickly,” Werner tells St. Joseph Post.
A year ago, Missouri recorded 338 flu cases at this time of the year, according to Werner. This year, the state has recorded 775 cases.
Leighya Marie DeLong, an elementary school girl from Hiawatha, died at a Lincoln, Nebraska hospital last week.
Werner says it’s not too late for you to get your flu shot.
“We’re actually ramping up. We’re not at the height of the flu season for Missouri, yet. That’s coming,” Werner says. “So, it’s only going to get worse. We’re only going to see more numbers as the weeks progress. We have not peaked yet.”
For most people, influenza will last from five to seven days, often with a fever, aches, and pains. Symptoms can be treated with medication, fluids, and rest. Then, recovery begins.
Werner says the very young and the very old, though, are vulnerable to severe sickness, even death, from the flu.
She says no one should take it lightly.
Again, prevention is the key.
“Knowing that we are still ramping up to the hardest part of the flu season, we have not reached ‘widespread’ which is what most people are in in the country, if you have not yet gotten your flu vaccine, please do so,” Werner says, pointing out residents can get a flu shot at a variety of locations. “They are welcome to come to the Health Department. They are welcome to go to their doctor’s office, to a pharmacy, to wherever best works for them to get that protection.”
One note Werner likes to pass along. It takes a couple of weeks for a flu shot to become effective.