COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVN) -- A four-year-old boy from Montgomery County, near Dayton; and a one-year-old from Lucas County, the Toledo area, have died of flu-related complications this season. They're the first pediatric deaths.
"The Centers for Disease Control says they've seen a sharp increase in hospitalizations not just in Ohio, but across the nation," says Melanie Amato, of the Ohio Dept. of Health. "They believe we are not near the peak season yet. It may peak around the end of January and into February."
Amato says H3N2, or "Influenza A" is the most common this flu season. She adds, any time the H3N2 virus is prominent, it kind of means we're going to have more severe illnesses than we've seen.
Experts say the simplest advice is consistently washing your hands, as the first preventative measure to avoid the flu.