More Schools are Worried about an Unusual Flu Outbreak

By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 16, 9:04 PM ET



OMAHA, Neb. - Midway through the month when influenza typically peaks, health officials were monitoring four hospitalized Nebraska children, while three North Carolina schools remained closed over widespread symptoms of the illness.

And in Oklahoma, one school district reported 350 students out sick Friday, though no schools were closed, authorities said.

Still, a federal health official called this season relatively mild so far.

Around the country, at least nine children have died of flu, and six other child deaths have been tentatively linked to flu since Feb. 3, said Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last year, 47 children under age 18 died from influenza. In 2003-2004, the worst recent flu season, 153 children died.

The four Nebraska children were improving, Dr. Tom Safranek of Nebraska Health and Human Services said, but he didn't know of plans to send them home.

None of the children were nearly as sick Ahn "Anna" T. Do, who died Feb. 10, four days after falling ill, her father Chi Do said.

Safranek said the four children did not have any known relation or close proximity to each other or Anna, and at least one had received some form of flu vaccine this season.

In North Carolina, the three schools in Hyde County closed Wednesday after at least 20 percent of their total 541 students fell ill, school system spokeswoman Carol Evans said. The schools won't reopen until Monday, she said.

The illness was blamed for last week's death of a 7-year-old girl in Seattle, and an 8-year-old who died there Wednesday had suffered from flu-like systems, health authorities there said.

About 36,000 people die from the flu each year in the United States, according to the CDC.

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Associated Press writers Anna Jo Bratton in Omaha and Estes Thompson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.