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The Flu is Killing People in California
Photo by JuditK via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
It's flu season, and the virus is being blamed for at least six deaths in California.
A 45-year-old woman who lived in Santa Ana recently died in the last week, according to City News Service. A 55-year-old La Habra man and a 51-year-old Fountain Valley man also died from the flu in December. The Los Angeles Times reports that a 22-year-old Hemet man and a 4-year-old Perris girl also died after testing positive for the flu.
It's hard to gauge how many people over 65 are killed by the flu, but a 98-year-old woman in the Bay Area died of the flu recently as well.
Hospitalizations because of the flu are on the increase as well with higher outpatients visits than in past years.
The people affected most severely by the flu are the elderly -- about 90% of those who have died are over the age of 65.
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