Marietta Boy, 5, Dies From Flu Complications

MARIETTA, GA — A 5-year-old boy from Marietta has died from complications of the flu during what Georgia health officials are calling a particularly bad outbreak of the virus.

WSB-TV reports that Eli Snook died Saturday at a local hospital. His parents told the station they had first taken him to an emergency room on Jan. 13, kept him home for a week, then sent him back to daycare on Jan. 22.

But they got a call that he had a 101-degree fever. They took him to emergency care and would later learn that he had developed a brain infection that caused swelling.

"We prayed for a miracle Friday night," Aaron Snook, Eli's father, told WSB.

Eli's passing will add to a death toll from the flu this season that already had reached 37, according to state health officials speaking at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. That number only included one childhood death, of a child between the ages of 12-18.

Department of Public Health officials did not identify that victim. But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that 15-year-old Kira Molina, of Newnan, died from flu symptoms on Tuesday.

Georgia is one of 49 U.S. states where the virus has hit hard this flu season, which runs from Oct. 1, 2017 through May 19, 2018. In metro Atlanta alone, nearly 700 people have been hospitalized this year due to the flu, said State Epidemiologist Dr. Cherie Drenzek.

This year, the predominant strain of flu circulating in Georgia and around the country is influenza A-H3N2. This strain can be particularly hard on the very young, those over age 65 and people with existing medical conditions. Along with two or three others and depending on the vaccine, H3N2 is one of the strains contained in this year's flu vaccine.

In Georgia, 25 of the 37 deaths reported Wednesday were to people 65 years old or older and 84 percent of the deaths were of people over 50, according to Drenzek.

Public Health Commissioner J. Patrick O'Neal urged Georgians who still haven't received a flu shot to do so. While flu cases may have peaked for the year, officials said, there are several more weeks to go.

"The best protection we have against influenza is the seasonal flu shot," O'Neal said. "It's not perfect by any means ... very often by the time the flu shows up in our area, the virus has mutated. But, even when it doesn't prevent it, we have information that it modifies the severity of it."

An online fundraiser has been set up to help pay funeral costs for Eli Snook on GoFundMe. Thursday morning, it had raised $9,720 of a $15,000 goal. Similarly, a fund for Kira Molina was set up on the site. Just two hours old, it had raised $100 of a $15,000 goal Thursday morning.

Here are tips to avoid the flu and curb its spread, provided by the Centers for Disease Control:

• Stay home if you are sick. With the exception of seeking medical care, do not go out until 24 hours after your fever has subsided without the use of medication.
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose and eyes.
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub.
• Clean and disinfect surfaces that may have become contaminated with germs.
• Avoid others who are sick.
• Cough or sneeze into a tissue. Throw away tissues after use.

To treat the flu, use over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen or cough syrup to relieve symptoms. Rest in bed and drink lots of fluids.

If you contact your doctor within 48 hours of onset of symptoms, you may be able to take an antiviral drug, like Tamiflu, which will reduce the severity of symptoms and length of the illness.
You can be contagious from one day before and up to seven days after becoming sick.

Photos via GoFundMe