8-year-old Alabama girl dies from flu
PIKE ROAD, Alabama (KTRK) -- Family, friends and classmates are mourning the loss on an 8-year-old girl who died from the flu.
Zainab Momin was home from school due to the bad weather when her parents rushed her to the hospital with a high fever and flu-like symptoms.
She died that same night.
Zainab was a third grader at Pike Road Elementary School in Alabama.
"It's a really hard time especially in the morning whenever the students first see each other and see the empty seat and some of them will be hearing about it for the first time. To lose someone so young is incredibly difficult," Principal Ryan Kendall said.
Kendall said Zainab had a personality that drew a lot of people to her.
"Zainab was a delightful little girl. She had just a wonderful smile and a great attitude. Our school family here is devastated," Kendall said.
Zainab is believed to be the first pediatric influenza death in Alabama this flu season.
Meanwhile, there have been 60,000 confirmed cases across the country of flu cases.
Earlier this week, the CDC reported 20 children have died from the flu.
