Outaouais girl, 3, dies from flu

A three-year-old girl from the Outaouais died last week from an intense bout of the flu, just three days after showing her first symptom.

NancyBouchard said her normallyenergetic daughter, Charlotte, developed a 42 C fever on Jan. 14.

Thegirl was taken to hospital inBuckingham, Que., where doctorsdiagnosed her with influenza.

The child was already in a lethargic state and was transferred to the Montreal Children's Hospital, where doctors discovered an infection had reached her liver and brain.

Charlotte was then transferred again to Montreal'sSainte-Justine specialized care centre.

Bouchard said doctors there told her thenthat her daughter's chances of survival were thin.

"If she survived, there was a 100 per cent chance she would never walk again," Bouchard said in a French interview.

Charlotte was pronounced dead on Thursday afternoon.

Vaccine may not have helped

Bouchard said her daughterwas not vaccinated against the flu.

She said she is trying not to get lost in regrets about what could have been, but will definitely vaccinate in the future.

Dr. Carol McConnery, an infectious disease consultant with the Centre intgr de sant et des services sociaux de l'Outaouais, said getting the vaccine does not guarantee you won't get the flu.

"There's no other illness where we have to vaccinate people every year, because it's a virus that mutates and can even change while the vaccine is being manufactured," she said in a French interview.

She saida yearly flu shot is still important sinceit offers the best protection people can get against the illness.

Most flu deaths strike the chronically ill or those over the age of 75,McConnery said.

The latest Health Canada weekly flu report said as of Jan. 12, the national flu season appearedto have peaked at the end of December, with the highest level of flu diagnoses in western Quebec and Montreal.