Tarrant County records first pediatric flu death since 2015 as flu season begins early

The graph shows a sharp rise in flu activity this season, trending nearly a month ahead of the previous two years.

Tarrant County Public Health has confirmed the first pediatric flu death of this season. This is the first reported pediatric flu death in Tarrant County since 2015.

There have been three other pediatric flu deaths reported in Texas in the current season.

“Because of the sensitive nature of the information, we can’t share any other details, other than to say that the child had underlying health conditions,” said Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja. “The patient tested positive for Influenza B which is circulating early and predominantly this season,” he said.

“We want to remind everyone to get their flu shot,” Taneja said. “It’s definitely not too late, and the vaccine offers you the best protection against getting the flu.”

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The U.S. winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years.

An early barrage of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there’s a decent chance flu season could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say.

The last flu season to rev up this early was in 2003-2004 — a bad one. Some experts think the early start may mean a lot of suffering is in store, but others say it’s too early to tell.

“It really depends on what viruses are circulating. There’s not a predictable trend as far as if it’s early it’s going to be more severe, or later, less severe,” said Scott Epperson, who tracks flu-like illnesses for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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There are different types of flu viruses, and the one causing illnesses in most parts of the country is a surprise. It’s a version that normally doesn’t abound until March or April.

That virus generally isn’t as dangerous to older people — good news, since most flu hospitalizations and deaths each winter occur in the elderly. However, such viruses can be hard on children and people younger than 50.

Louisiana was the first state to really get hit hard, with doctors there saying they began seeing large numbers of flu-like illnesses in October.

Children’s Hospital New Orleans has already seen more flu cases this fall than it saw all of last winter, said Dr. Toni Gross, the hospital’s chief of emergency medicine. Last month was the busiest ever at the hospital’s emergency department. Officials had to set up a triage system and add extra shifts, Gross said.

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“It is definitely causing symptoms that will put you in bed for a week,” including fever, vomiting and diarrhea. But the hospital has not had any deaths and is not seeing many serious complications, she said.

Health officials tend to consider a flu season to be officially underway when — for at least three weeks in a row — a significant percentage of U.S. doctor’s office visits are due to flu-like illnesses. That’s now happened, CDC officials said this week.

The agency on Friday estimated that there have already been 1.7 million flu illnesses, 16,000 hospitalizations, and 900 flu-related deaths nationally.

The most intense patient traffic had been occurring in a six states stretching from Texas to Georgia. But in new numbers released Friday, CDC officials said the number of states with intense activity rose last week to 12. Flu is widespread in 16 states, though not necessarily at intense levels in each, the CDC said.

Last flu season started off as a mild one but turned out to be the longest in 10 years. It ended with around 49,000 flu-related deaths and 590,000 hospitalizations, according to preliminary estimates.

It was bad, but not as bad as the one before it, when flu caused an estimated 61,000 deaths and 810,000 hospitalizations. Those 2017-2018 estimates are new: The CDC last month revised them down from previous estimates as more data — including actual death certificates — came in.

In both of the previous two flu seasons, the flu vaccine performed poorly against the nasty predominant virus. It’s too early to say how well the vaccine is performing right now, Epperson said.

Epperson said there’s a chance the flu season will peak this month, which would be unusually early. Flu season usually doesn’t hit fever pitch until around February.

The early start suggests a lot Americans may be sick at the same time, said Dave Osthus, a statistician who does flu forecasting at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “This could be a precursor to something pretty bad. But we don’t know,” he said.

Gross is pessimistic. “I, personally, am preparing for the worst,” she said.

The November report for the Walgreens Flu Index shows markets across Louisiana leading with the most instances of flu, along with markets in other southern states and Las Vegas, Nev. –a change from last season where markets in Texas accounted for most of the top activity in November.

Top 10 DMAs with Flu Activity

For month of November

Lafayette, La.

Alexandria, La.

Biloxi-Gulfport, Miss.

Las Vegas, Nev.

Waco-Temple-Bryan, Texas

New Orleans, La.

Dothan, Ala.

Baton Rouge, La.

Tyler-Longview (Lufkin & Nacogdoches), Texas

Victoria, Texas

Top 10 States with Flu Activity

For Month of November

Louisiana

Nevada

Texas

Mississippi

New Mexico

Tennessee

Alabama

Nebraska

Florida

Arkansas

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. The Fort Worth Business Press also contributed to this report.