Quenten Thomas, 27, a father of three young kids in Maryville, Tennessee, died last week due to complications of the flu.
He was coughing and having trouble breathing, his father, Robert Thomas, told NBC News.
"It hurt really bad when he coughed, and he was having trouble catching (his) breath," Robert Thomas recalled. He'd been using a finger monitor to keep track of his blood oxygen levels. "He noticed his oxygen was dropping, so he went to the hospital asking for oxygen first," Robert Thomas said.
At first, the hospital sent Quenten Thomas, who had not received a flu shot this season, home to recover with water, food and sleep, his father said. But his oxygen levels remained low and he was still in pain, so he went back.
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This time, doctors took his symptoms more seriously, but his condition quickly became more severe.
"They put them on a ventilator and eventually in a coma," Robert Thomas said. He died on Jan. 6, 2024, leaving behind an 8-year-old daughter, as well as an 11-month-old boy and a 1-month-old girl.
"It's unbelievable," Robert Thomas said, adding that his son was a "healthy, hard-working young man," and "there was no quit in him."
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2024 flu symptoms
Across the country, flu activity remains high, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So far this flu season, about 9,400 people have died, and there have been 150,000 hospitalizations and 14 million illnesses. In the first week of January, the CDC counted 13 flu-related deaths in children, bringing the total to 40 pediatric deaths so far this season.
The data as of Jan. 12, 2024, (the most recent available) indicated that flu activity may be decreasing, but it's possible that it will spike again, a CDC spokesperson told NBC News.
This flu season, some doctors have seen more severe flu symptoms than usual in young people, sometimes even if they got their flu shot, NBC News reported.
Dr. Dhaval Desai, director of Hospital Medicine at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta, told NBC News that he's recently treated people of a range of ages with severe flu symptoms. Desai himself struggled with a severe bout of influenza and ended up in the emergency room in November despite being vaccinated.
Common flu symptoms include:
- Fever
- Cough
- Sore throat
- Headache
- Runny nose
- Fatigue
- Muscle ache
Most people who get the flu will recover within a week, but some are at a higher risk for serious complications from the disease, particularly those with underlying conditions like asthma, heart disease and diabetes, as well as older adults. Rarely, the flu can be severe — and even deadly — for young, otherwise healthy people.
Desai and Dr. Rachael Lee, an associate professor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama, told NBC News that some of the more severe flu symptoms that they've seen this season include:
- Dehydration
- Wheezing
- Severe head and muscle aches
- High fevers, sometimes staying above 104
- Fatigue
With the flu continuing to spread alongside other respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, experts are urging people to take precautions, especially getting vaccinated and wearing a mask.
Robert Thomas is also urging people to take the flu more seriously. And he has a message for those who think they don't need a flu vaccine: Don't risk it.
"You might not need the flu shot. You might do just fine without it," he said. "(But) you might spread the flu to your son, who's younger than you are, who might die of it.
“If you love your family, don’t risk it. Why risk somebody you love you so much?"
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
