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BATON ROUGE (AP) — The death of a child in central Louisiana was the fifth fatal case of pediatric flu in Louisiana so far this flu season.
Louisiana's health department said Friday it reported the death in its weekly flu report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The department said there have been two child flu deaths in southeast Louisiana this season, one in northwest Louisiana and another in southwest Louisiana.
The department said that, since Oct. 1, 2013, lab tests have confirmed at least 66 deaths statewide from influenza. However, health officials do not believe that number represents the full risk to people from the flu because hundreds of people die in Louisiana each year without ever being diagnosed with the flu or from other conditions made worse by influenza.
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