Why...? Why...? Why...? Jasper whimpered, not just once or twice, but repeatedly. It was January 2026. For one awful week, my friend's 21-month-old grandson was practically inert, spiked fevers to 103o, and barely ate or drank, all the while voicing his single word of despair. [MEDPAGE TODAY]
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Meanwhile, his mother and grandmother, who are both physicians in Boston, worried about dehydration, viral pneumonia, even a bacterial super-infection. They were also grieved to see a normally joyous toddler so psychologically distressed.
This year, some version of "Why does my body feel so horrible?" entered the thoughts of many children fighting a newly-mutated strain of H3N2 influenza A that surged early -- and hard. Although its final toll will not be tallied for months, data released by CDC on February 6 confirmed that 60 U.S. youngsters had already perished this season. Five of them were in Massachusetts, a state that last saw a child die of flu in 2013.
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