Six-year-old girl dies from flu after ambulance was sent back, as victim list grows

Emily Muth had not received a flu shot this year, her parents said. (GoFundMe.com)

Another child has died from influenza.

Little 6-year-old Emily Muth from Cary, North Carolina was diagnosed with the flu last Tuesday and died just three days later on Friday night.

FLU DEATHS PROMPT WARNINGS FROM VICTIMS' FAMILIES AS
OUTBREAK CONTINUES

"Devastated. How could that even happen? I mean one day she's fine, you know, and I mean she had the fever and she was a little achy," her mother Rhonda Muth told ABC11.

10-year old Nico Mallozzi of Connecticut died January 14th from the flu. (Courtesy of: Mallozzi family)

"Other than that, I mean, she had had the runny nose and cough like typical, you know, and then she's gone. It's horrible. I don't wish this on anybody," she said.

Emily’s death came right after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday that 30 children have died so far this flu season, compared to 10 child deaths by this point last season.

"The flu is no joke right now. It's a plague in America," the girl's father, Nathan Muth, told the outlet.

The parents said that when Emily first got sick Tuesday, doctors prescribed Tamiflu and said to stay hydrated, but by Friday, Emily’s breathing was labored and her mother called for an ambulance.

According to ABC11, her mother said paramedics told her the labored breathing was a typical symptom of the flu and that they thought her daughter would be OK.

"He asked us you know, 'We can take her.' And, you know, they're the medical personnel. I trust what they know. And they said she was fine."

Emily Rose was not taken to a hospital.

By the evening, however, her situation was getting worse.

"She was breathing a little bit heavier. And all of the sudden she just raised up and went back down. I went, 'Emily, Emily.' And I noticed she wasn't breathing," her mother said.

Paramedics came quickly after calling 911 again and tried to perform CPR, but by the time they got to the hospital it was too late.

"Could more have been done?" her father asked.

"You know you always think that. You know what I mean? If they had said, 'Get to the hospital.' What could have been done? The ambulance that was called that Friday morning, they saw her state," he said.

Unfortunately, Emily did not get a flu shot this year.

Her parents said they now planned to get their two other
children, ages 8 and 10, vaccinated.

A GoFundMe page was created to help Emily’s family cover the expenses and cope with the loss.