10-25-2018
TACOMA, Wash. — Health officials confirmed the first flu death in Washington this season.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department reports a man in his forties tested positive for influenza when he was admitted to the hospital.
He spent more than a week in the ICU before he died this week.
There were five reports of Pierce County residents hospitalized with influenza whose ages ranged from late teens to late sixties and all had at least one preexisting condition that increased their risk of flu complications.
The Health Department says the death and hospitalizations show the importance of immunizing against influenza early in the season.