Safe & Health Schools
FLU FACTS: The Dangers of Flu to Students
The flu, also known as influenza, is more dangerous than the common cold for children and poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of students and their families each year.
- Children commonly need medical care because of the flu, especially before they turn 5, and each year an average of 20,000 children under the age of 5 are hospitalized because of flu complications.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that since 2010, flu hospitalizations among children younger than 5 years ranged from 7,000 to 26,000 in the United States.
- While relatively rare, even healthy children die from the flu each year. Since 2004-2005, flu-related deaths in children reported to CDC during regular flu seasons have ranged from 37 deaths to 171 deaths.
- Severe flu complications are most common in children younger than 2, and children with chronic health problems, like asthma and diabetes, are at especially high risk of developing serious flu complications.
Click here for more information on the dangers of the flu .
HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS: The dangers of HPV to Adolescents
Why is the HPV vaccine important?
- About 14 million people, including teens, become infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) each year. HPV is a group of more than 150 related viruses that cause nearly all cervical cancers and many cancers of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus, rectum and oropharynx. HPV is named for the warts (papilloma) that some HPV types can cause.