Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not monitor the deaths of adults due to the flu, they do monitor mortality rates of children.
As a result of the 2003-04 flu season, the CDC saw requested voluntary reporting of all laboratory-confirmed influenza-related death in children ages 18 and younger. The 2003-04 flu season, according to the CDC, saw a reported 153 pediatric influenza-associated deaths in 40 states.
As a result of the 2003-04 flu season, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) voted in 2004 to make pediatric influenza-related deaths a nationally modifiable condition.
Since the pediatric mortality monitoring system, deaths among children have been gradually increasing following the 2005-06 flu season, which saw 46 deaths. The following year saw 77 deaths while the 2007-08 season saw 88 flu-related deaths.
The numbers continued to increase at alarming rated with the 2008-09 and especially the 2009-10 season when 133 and 282 deaths were reported.
After the 2009-10 flu season, it appears more was done to combat the flu as the number of deaths fell to 122. For the 2011-12 season, only 34 were reported.
Now in the 2012-13 season, as the flu season is waning, the numbers did increase but nowhere near the 2009-10 season figures. The current season has seen 59 pediatrics deaths due to influenza-associated symptoms.
According to the CDC, the purpose of the pediatric mortality rate system is to:
1) Monitor and describe the incidence, distribution, and basic epidemiologic characteristics of deaths among children associated with influenza virus infection,
2) Provide data to guide future influenza immunization policy,
3) Rapidly recognize influenza season during which the impact may be unusually severe among children.
Symptoms of the flu include fever, sore throat, chills, a cough, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, muscle or body aches, fatigue, and potentially diarrhea and vomiting. Infants will often experience poor circulation, lethargy, swollen glands, and a lack of appetite.
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