NBC News 2018:

A 10-year-old Connecticut boy died of flu. So did a 21-year-old bodybuilder, and 4-year-old Jonah Reiben of Dayton, Ohio.

These are not the usual sick and elderly people who die from influenza. But every year, flu carries away perfectly healthy young adults and children, and tens of thousands of people over 65.

How does flu kill, and why does it sometimes kill so quickly?

NBC News 2017:

 Flu killed 80,000 people this past season and put 900,000 into the hospital, making it the worst influenza season in decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

The numbers were shocking..."

"It's high, but it's consistent with what we had last season," the CDC's flu division director, Dr. Daniel Jernigan, told NBC News.

USA Today 2015:

Flu is now widespread in 46 states and has killed 26 children, health officials said today.

"This year is shaping up to be a bad one, particularly for people 65 and older," says Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children younger than 5 are also at high risk of hospitalization, particularly babies under 6 months, who are too young to be vaccinated.