{"id":555889,"date":"2026-03-23T19:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T19:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/555889\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T19:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T19:19:09","slug":"number-of-children-who-died-from-flu-this-season-hits-115-as-six-states-remain-on-high-alert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/555889\/","title":{"rendered":"Number of children who died from flu this season hits 115 as six states remain on high alert"},"content":{"rendered":"

115 children have died from flu this winter<\/a> with this past week seeing one of the largest spikes in fatalities since January.<\/p>\n

Fourteen children died from March 7-14, according to U.S. public health officials. This is the most pediatric flu deaths<\/a> in a week since 15 children died between January 3-10.<\/p>\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> did not provide details on which states reported the deaths, or the ages of the children. Separately, nearly a dozen child flu deaths were reported in Virginia<\/a> and Massachusetts<\/a> during the week of March 7-14.<\/p>\n

Several states are still experiencing high levels of flu but national levels are trending downward, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported <\/a>Friday.<\/p>\n

Last year was the worst flu season for children since record-keeping began 20 years ago. The child death toll reached nearly 300 over the 2024-2025 flu season.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Several<\/p>\n

Several states are still experiencing high levels of flu but national levels are trending downward, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported Friday. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Adults are faring better this flu season with fewer illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths for adults, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n

Six states<\/a> are currently reporting high levels of flu cases – Oregon, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri and Ohio – a drop off from dozens of states at the beginning of 2026.<\/p>\n

Even as levels of the respiratory illness fall nationwide, experts are warning people not to let their guard down due to different strains.<\/p>\n

The influenza A strain makes up the majority of infections, especially in the early months of the season. Influenza B generally peaks later in the season and can be more severe for children. Right now, influenza B up the majority of positive tests reported to the CDC.<\/p>\n

\u201cInfluenza A usually starts early in the winter season up to this time of the year. Sometimes at the end of January, February … we start seeing influenza B and that could go on until about April,\u201d Dr. Angel Teck, a family medicine specialist with Health Ministries Clinic in Kansas, recently told KWCH<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A map shows flu activity for the week ending March 14, 2026. Six states have high levels of flu and most are in the West (CDC)<\/p>\n

While the strains are similar, influenza B carries a greater risk of seizures, vomiting and diarrhea in children, according to the Cleveland Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Infection from influenza B can also lead to complications such as pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, heart disease, respiratory failure and brain swelling, the Children\u2019s Hospital of Orange County says<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some infections may result in an intense pain in the limbs known as viral myositis<\/a>, doctors have reported<\/a>, making it hard for children to walk for a few days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"115 children have died from flu this winter with this past week seeing one of the largest spikes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[31188,49,48,17521,2770,50363,48193,84,215443],"class_list":["post-555889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-american-academy-of-pediatrics","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention","tag-children","tag-flu","tag-flu-season","tag-health","tag-national-levels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}