Flu kills four Colorado children

DENVER, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Colorado health officials say the flu season has struck the state early and hard with at least four children dead so far.

Three children, ages 21 months to 8 years, have died this week from complications of the flu and a 15-year-old girl died last week, officials said Tuesday.

Dr. Ned Calonge, Colorado's chief medical officer, told the Denver Post: "Young physicians in emergency departments are saying they've never seen a flu season this bad. Others are saying they have not seen it this bad in 20 years."

There were 3,399 confirmed flu cases in Colorado as of Tuesday compared to a total of 2,681 for all of last year.

About 36,000 people die from flu complications each year across the nation but healthy children rarely die from the flu. Two of the Colorado children had medical conditions that made the flu especially dangerous for them, health officials said.

Another problem is that this year's flu vaccine does not protect against the Fujian strain from Australia, the Post reported, which is causing some of the most serious cases.