by Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA

Created on: February 08, 2009   Last Updated: April 10, 2011

It always raises a good level of concern in people when news of people dying from the flu are aired on national television and displayed in print on newspaper headlines. Perhaps the reason behind this, is the fact that the flu is often perceived as a harmless and self limited disease that tends to run its course. According to the Center of Disease Control, each year each year approximately 200,000 of people get hospitalized and about 36,000 die from complications. These statstics may prove quite intimidating indeed, and may raise the reasonable question of: "Why do people die from the flu?"

The flu itself does not kill people. Death, is rather mostly caused by the potential complications that may arise in weakened or previously sick individuals. The most commonly affected are the weaker members of society: senior citizens over the age of 65 and small children. Following are some common flu complications that may turn fatal.

• Dehydration

The nasal discharge, along with the profused perspiration, then add the persistent vomiting accompanied by diarrhea and you will get the picture of why the flu may ultimately cause excessive loss of fluids. While some level of dehydration may not cause much harm in healthy adults, small children and seniors may deteriorate pretty quickly. Dehydration may take a turn for the worse if the amounts of fluids lost are much more than those replaced by drinking.

• Pneumonia

Pneumonia is a very serious complication of the flu. It is a debilitating inflammation of the lungs that typically causes a high fever, cough, chest pain and difficulty breathing. It is estimated that more than 90% of the deaths in older adults resulting from flu complications are due to pneumonia. The most affected individuals are those with a suppressed immune system as those suffering from AIDS, seniors, very young children, and those already affected by chronic medical conditions such as: diabetes, heart disease and underlying respiratory diseases.

• Reyes Syndrome

This disease particularly affects children and teens and is very serious, affecting the liver and brain. While the cause of such disease remains unknown there is evidence that the children affected typically were recovering from the flu and were given aspirin. Fo this reason, nowadays all bottles of medicine containing aspirin must mention to not be administered to children and teens under the age of nineteen years old. Thankfully, the disease is not very common, with only a few cases reported per year.

• Other Complications

Other potential complications derive from the aggravation of certain underlying chronic medical conditions such as congestive heart failure, diabetes or asthma. Unfortunately, these are cases where important organs fail from functioning properly leading to death.

Deaths deriving from the flu will continue to make news headlines. As grim as such notices may feel, they actually having a good side because they play a main role in encouraging seniors and those with a weakened immune system to take action and get the flu shot. Truth is, nobody wants to be a statistic and by learning about the worse case flu outcome scenarios, people effectively learn how to take better of themselves.

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