Her
family told KCCI that she died Monday morning at Blank Children's Hospital in
Des Moines not even 72 hours after she started showing flu like symptoms.
Ayzlee
leaves behind her parents Jim and Amber McCarthy, of Elk Horn, and an older
brother and sister.
Her
aunt, Carrie Kiesel, told KCCI that Ayzlee developed flu like symptoms. On
Saturday, her parents took her to a clinic where she was later diagnosed with
influenza A and B.
Sunday,
she continued to get worse so her parents took her to the ER in Atlantic. She
became seriously dehydrated and later that night after midnight an ambulance
took Ayzlee to Blank Children's Hospital.
The
family said within six hours of getting to Des Moines -- Ayzlee died.
Kiesel
said doctors told them the cause of death was a combination of influenza A,
influenza B and sepsis. She also told KCCI that Ayzlee was perfectly healthy and
had no-preexisting medical conditions.
While
the state officials have not reported any deaths from the flu this season, Polk
County Medical Examiner Dr. Gregory Schmunk said that since Nov. 1 his office
has processed seven death certificates that had influenza listed as either the
cause of death or as a significant condition that contributed to the
death.
Schmunk
said at least three of those cases had influenza as the official cause of
death.
Schmunck
makes clear that often times pneumonia or sepsis or some other complication of
the flu is also included as a contributing cause of death but he says those
cases would be still classified as a flu-related death.