A six-year-old girl died Monday night at Women & Children's Hospital in Buffalo. Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein tells WBFO News the child's death is attributed to influenza. Dr. Burstein offered her condolences to the family calling it a sad occurrence. Burstein noted it has been a severe flu season in the region.
"In January, we had already had more hospitalizations due to influenza in New York State compared to all of 2009 when we had H1N1, so this has been causing a lot of serious infection," Burstein said.
The number of reported flu cases to the county health department is declining, but the commissioner says there are still substantial amounts of flu circulating in the community.
Burstein says it's not too late to get a flu shot, especially for young children and the elderly who are at a higher risk.
