Boy's Family Thought He Had A Cold; 12-Year-Old Died From The Flu

A 12-year-old Florida boy who was otherwise healthy died from the flu earlier this week and his family is now urging other parents to not take the disease lightly. The Palm Beach County Medical Examiner said on Saturday that preliminary results show the boy died from influenza B.

The family thought that the boy, Dylan Winnik, had a cold. His symptoms hadn't seemed serious but by late Monday his fever spiked and on Tuesday he stayed home from school and had complained of his bones hurting, according to media reports. The boy's father said his son appeared to be feeling better but Dylan died that day.

“My message to all parents be careful with your kids," Sergio, the boy's father, told reporters through an interpreter, CBS Miami reported. "There’s a new flu out there and is no vaccine for it. There is nothing.”

The boy's brother, Sebastian Roa, told CBS Miami that the two spent last weekend riding bikes and playing football. Roa said he is devastated.

Mike Medwin, Dylan's mother's partner, told The Palm Beach Post the boy did not got a flu shot this year.

“Please implore other parents to not take the flu lightly whatsoever,” Medwin told the paper.

Last week, 1 in 15 doctor visits were for symptoms of the flu. That's the highest level since the swine flu pandemic in 2009. Hawaii is the only state where the flu is not reported to be widespread.

Flu is a contagious respiratory illness, spread by a virus. It can cause a miserable but relatively mild illness in many people, but more a more severe illness in others. Young children and the elderly are at greatest risk from flu and its complications. In a bad season, there are as many as 56,000 deaths connected to the flu. This flu season, there have been 37 pediatric deaths.

Health officials say this year's correctly shot targets the strains that are making Americans sick, including one causing most of the illness, a Type A H3N2 flu virus. But exactly how well it is working won't be known until next month.

According to the CDC, currently circulating influenza B viruses, the type that Dylan died from, belong to one of two lineages: B/Yamagata and B/Victoria. Influenza A (H1N1), A (H3N2), and one or two influenza B viruses are included in each year's flu vaccine.

Roa told CBS Miami that his mother is in unimaginable pain.

“It’s something that she can’t grasp either,” Roa told the news channel. “Something that she grieves about it but at the same time we want to get awareness out there. We don’t want him to die in vain.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for Dylan's funeral.

"There is nothing that can ever explain the loss of a beautiful child at such an early age," the page says. "Dylan was highly intelligent, surprisingly funny, and always full of life busy with his two brothers."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Image via GoFundMe