A 13-year-old Daviess County girl is the third child in Kentucky to die from flu this season.
The Messenger-Inquirer reports Brookelynne Shannon of Owensboro was an 8th grader at Burns Middle School. She was initially treated locally, but when high fever and severe chest pains didn’t subside, she was taken to Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, where she died on Jan. 15.
Beth Fisher is a spokesperson for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
“Last year we had 76 deaths total and that was for the entire flu season. So comparatively we already have a higher number of deaths this year than we did at this point in time last year,” said Fisher.
60 people in the state, including three children, have died from the flu since October. Fisher said this season’s strain of flu is similar to the 2014-2015 season.
“We’re seeing a lot of H3N2 strain influenza circulating in Kentucky this year. That is the same strain that was circulating in the 2014-2015 season, which also had a high number of flu deaths. There were 146 flu deaths reported in the 2014-2015 season,” said Fisher.
Fisher said anyone with flu symptoms should stay home so they don’t pass it to others and seek treatment as soon as possible.
