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6-year-old dies one day after flu diagnosis

Emily Muth, a 6-year-old resident of Cary, North California, passed away last Monday, January 19th. Emily was diagnosed with the flu the day before, as she presented the typical symptoms like a runny nose, cough, fever, and aches.

The child was having trouble to breathe. Little Emily was not taken to the hospital because doctors told Ms. Rhonda, her mom, that the difficulty to breath was just another symptom of the disease, even though paramedical personnel told her they could pick Emily up.

Emily Muth was just six years old when she passed away. Image credit: GoFundMe

But then, she wasn’t breathing anymore. The family called 911, and Emily received CPR while she was taken to the hospital, but it was too late.

There’s no name for this kind of pain

The family created a GoFundMe Campaign in which they explain how awful the loss has been for them, since, as they describe, there’s nothing worse than losing a child, so it felt like losing a part of their hearts, a part of themselves. The campaign set a goal of $7.500, having already passed it and has collected up to $12.565 so far, to help the family be able to afford the expenses and handle the loss.

Emily’s father told ABC11 that he asks himself if more could have been done since this is the question people always ask themselves after this kind of situation.

But as he remembers what happened, he quotes what the doctors asked them to do, “get to the hospital.” And as they rushed to the hospital, just as Mr. Nathan saw Emily’s state, the paramedics on the ambulance understood the tragedy as well.

In a heartbreaking statement, Emily’s Mother, Ms. Rhonda, declared:

“She was breathing a little bit heavier. And all of the sudden she just raised up and went back down. I went ‘Emily, Emily’. And I noticed she wasn’t breathing… It’s horrible. I don’t wish this to anybody”.

The Flu is No Joke Right Now

Mr. Nathan expressed his increasing worrying about the ordinary disease, influenza, which Emily developed before dying. Besides explaining the fact that it can’t be taken as a joke, he emphasized that it is currently a plague in the USA.

Just as Mr. Nathan explained how dangerous this disease is, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had also let out an alert due to the 30 deaths of children caused by the flu during this 2017-2018 season. The report was uploaded to their web page this Friday, Jan. 16th, three days before Emily’s death.

The CDC is urging the public to vaccinate their children, as they are more at risk of developing severe conditions from the flu. Image credit: Parents Magazine

Some of the children that died during this season include 10-year-old Nico Mallozzi, who developed pneumonia which led to sepsis, 6-year-old Jonah Ribeh who died after a couple of hours since the symptoms appeared, and third-grader Zainab Momin, the first case of influenza on a child in Alabama this 2017-2018 season.

In their report, the CDC also explains that since some of the viruses are building up resistance to some of the antivirals, so they’re working on a functional analysis to test if the infections are presenting mutations. The CDC confirmed mutations in some patients.

The types of influenza that present these mutations are the A (H1N1), A (H3N2) and influenza B virus. Nevertheless, the CDC claims to be working in their drug improvement in the report, even including some achievements on new drugs to be released this season.

You can prevent it

Among the recommendations given by the CDC this year, they highlighted getting vaccinated every year to avoid the seasonal flu. They make clear the fact that:

“Everyone 6 months of age and older should get a flu vaccine every year before flu activity begins in their community.”

They also noted that nasal flu spray shouldn’t be used during the 2017-2018 season.

Doctors warn everyone should get vaccinated this flu season. Image credit: Emory University

Pregnant women, people aged 65 years or older, and young children are the ones at higher risk of serious complications related to the disease. As well, children younger than 6 months old are also at a high risk of getting infected and developing severe complications.

Emily’s family admitted that she did not get vaccinated this year for the seasonal flu, making her an easy target for the virus to contaminate her. Learning from this awful tragedy, Rhonda and Nathan announced that they will be vaccinating their other two children, eight and ten years old, as soon as possible.

The number of patients going to the ER keeps rising, and morbid cases are associated with elder people with other chronic diseases, especially lung related ones and children not vaccinated. With the intention of lowering the risk of death, going to the doctor if any of the symptoms arise is suggested. Following treatment with prescribed antivirals if you’re diagnosed with the flu is mandatory to avoid further complications as well.

Source: Fox News

Categories: Health
Stephanie La Rosa:
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