Yes, You Can Actually Die From The Flu

Speculation about Prince's cause of death has left people wondering whether the flu can be fatal for otherwise healthy adults.
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Prince fans were shocked Thursday after hearing the news that the pop icon had suddenly died at the age of 57. A cause of death hasn’t yet been released, but publicists had recently said that Prince had been battling the flu for weeks. His plane was forced to make an emergency landing last week, reportedly so the singer could be treated for the flu. While the flu claims are now being questioned as new reports surface, many are left wondering: Can you actually die from the flu? Experts say yes.

“It’s rare but it still happens,” Richard Watkins, M.D., an infectious-disease specialist at Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital in Ohio, tells SELF. “Sometimes people who die have underlying health conditions that leave them compromised, but that’s not always the case.”

It’s happened before. An otherwise healthy 29-year-old mother of three made news in 2014 when she died of the flu and, according to data from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 3,000 and 49,000 Americans die of the flu each year.

Mehran Movassaghi, M.D., director of Providence Saint John’s Men’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells SELF that deaths are more likely to happen in people who haven’t had an annual flu shot. The flu shot protects against some but not all strains, he explains. If a person happens to contract a bad strain, they may have a severe reaction and die.

“The flu shot doesn’t protect all cases but, in general, if you get the shot and then get the flu, you’re going to have a milder case,” Watkins says.

Of course, most people get the flu and recover just fine. But, if you get really sick and aren’t treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral medication used to treat the flu, within 48 hours, it could progress to affecting your lungs, kidneys, and other important bodily organs. “Then, your whole body would just shut down,” Watkins says.

The flu can also leave a person more susceptible to other infections. “Your immune system becomes weaker and, if you’re sick for a long time, anything else that attacks you can lead to further complications and even death if your body can’t fight it,” Movassaghi says.

Some people are more at risk of becoming gravely ill from the flu than others: Those who are immunocompromised, including babies and the elderly, are especially at risk, as are smokers, asthma-sufferers, and those who are overly stressed. “But it’s kind of like getting struck by lightning,” says Watkins. “You can be a healthy person, get the flu, and die, while your next door neighbor can get it and survive.”

If you get the flu, Movassaghi says it’s also crucial that you take it easy and allow your body to rest to avoid further complications. Pushing it too hard before you've had time to recover could make it more likely that you'll become seriously ill, he says.

Experts stress that dying from the flu is rare, and the average person shouldn’t worry about it. However, Watkins says, the fact that it can happen shows how crucial the annual flu shot is: “The flu can still kill healthy adults, which is why it’s very important that everyone gets the flu shot.”

Related: R.I.P. Prince: Celebrities React To The Pop Icon’s Death