The Alarming Reason Why Some People Die From Flu

By Dr. Frank Yap, MD - February 10, 2022

This article was previously published February 1, 2018, and has been updated with new information.

As the COVID pandemic enters its second year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is ramping back up on its influenza recommendations, and stressing that it’s important to get a flu vaccine along with your COVID shots and boosters.1 The CDC is urging everyone aged 6 months and older to get a flu shot, with rare exceptions.2

During the height of the pandemic, influenza cases appeared to drop or nearly disappear, but with the 2021-2022 flu season, more flu cases are being reported. By the end of December 2021, the CDC reported that two children had already died of flu, and that flu hospitalizations were rising quickly.3 But how many deaths and hospitalizations are actually due to flu?

Many Flu ‘Deaths’ Are Actually From Secondary Infections

While influenza can indeed be deadly in rare cases, what most health experts fail to tell you is that these deaths are typically the result of secondary infections, not the flu virus itself. Importantly, research has highlighted the link between influenza and severe sepsis — a progressive disease process initiated by an aggressive, dysfunctional immune response to an infection in the bloodstream (which is why it's sometimes referred to as blood poisoning).

Symptoms of sepsis are often overlooked, even by health professionals, and without prompt treatment, the condition can be deadly. Not only that, sepsis also goes hand in hand with COVID-19 infection, particularly in patients in intensive care with COVID.4

Unfortunately, conventional treatments often fail, and most hospitals have yet to embrace the use of intravenous (IV) vitamin C, hydrocortisone and thiamine,5 which has been shown to reduce sepsis mortality from 40% to a mere 8.5%.6,7

How Influenza May Cause Lethal Sepsis

A decade and more ago, severe sepsis was generally associated with bacterial infections, but by 2013, viral infections like flu, and now COVID, had become a prominent cause of sepsis.8 To complicate matter even more, as noted in the video above, some sepsis symptoms also resemble influenza, which can lead to tragedy. The video offers guidelines on how to tell the difference between the two.

Sepsis, without doubt, requires immediate medical attention, whereas most people will successfully recover from the flu with a few days to a week of bedrest and fluids. Just how influenza can lead to sepsis is a somewhat complex affair, described as follows:9

“Regardless of the etiologic agent, the inflammatory response is highly interconnected with infection. In the initial response to an infection, severe sepsis is characterized by a pro-inflammatory state, while a progression to an anti-inflammatory state develops and favors secondary infections …

In the predominant pro-inflammatory state, Th1 cells activated by microorganisms increase transcription of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), interferon-γ (INF-γ), and interleukin-2 (IL-2).

[C]ytokines … released from endothelial cells and subsequently from macrophages can induce lymphocyte activation and infiltration at the sites of infection and will exert direct antiviral effects. Subsequently, with the shift toward an anti-inflammatory state, activated Th2 cells secrete interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10).

In certain situations, T cells can become anergic, failing to proliferate and produce cytokines. Type I IFN has a potent anti-influenza virus activity; it induces transcription of several interferon stimulated genes, which in turn restrict viral replication. However, influenza virus developed several mechanisms to evade IFN response …

Viral infections such as the influenza virus can also trigger deregulation of the innate immune system with excessive cytokines release and potential harmful consequences. An abnormal immune response to influenza can lead to endothelial damage … deregulation of coagulation, and the consequent alteration of microvascular permeability, tissue edema, and shock.”

Signs and Symptoms of Sepsis

Common signs and symptoms of sepsis to watch out for include:10

A high fever
Inability to keep fluids down
Rapid heartbeat; rapid, shallow breathing and/or shortness of breath
Lethargy and/or confusion
Slurred speech, often resembling intoxication

Should a few or all of these be present, seek immediate medical attention to rule out sepsis. Also inform the medical staff that you suspect sepsis, as time is of the essence when it comes to treatment. As noted in the featured video, hydration is of utmost importance, as much of the damage caused by sepsis begins with fluid loss.

Preventive Strategies to Reduce Your Chances of Infections

Your immune system is your first-line defense against all types of infections, be they bacterial or viral, so the most effective way to avoid coming down with flu is to bolster your immune function. While health officials claim getting an annual flu shot is the best way to ward off influenza, the medical literature actually suggests vitamin D optimization may be a far more effective strategy, and the evidence for this goes back at least a decade.

Dr. John Cannell, founder of the Vitamin D Council, was one of the first to introduce the idea that vitamin D deficiency may actually be a causative factor in influenza. His hypothesis11 was initially published in the journal Epidemiology and Infection in 2006.12 It was subsequently followed up with another study published in the Virology Journal in 2008.13

The following year, a large, nationally representative study14 confirmed that people with the lowest vitamin D levels indeed reported having significantly more colds or cases of the flu. Similar findings have been reported with vitamin D status and COVID, with several studies showing that persons with low vitamin D levels not only are more likely to be susceptible to the infection, but have a higher risk of hospitalization and death.15,16,17

With flu, a number of studies confirm the importance of your vitamin D status in fighting this viral infection. In 2017, for example, a scientific review18,19 concluded that vitamin D supplementation boosts immunity and cuts rates of both cold and flu.

In all, 25 randomized controlled trials were included in the review, involving nearly 11,000 individuals from more than a dozen countries. People with significant vitamin D deficiency (blood levels below 10 ng/mL), taking a vitamin D supplement reduced their risk of respiratory infections such as influenza by 50%.

People with higher vitamin D levels also benefited, although not as greatly. Overall, they reduced their risk by about 10%, which the researchers stated was about equal to the effect of flu vaccines. Coincidentally, 10% was the effectiveness rate of the 2017-2018 flu vaccine.20

The take-home message here is that vitamin D supplementation far exceeds the flu vaccine in terms of effectiveness, and the more deficient you are, the greater its protective effects when you supplement.

Aside from vitamin D, loading up on vitamins B1 and C may go a long way toward keeping you healthy through the flu season and beyond. Influenza has been successfully treated with high-dose vitamin C.21 Taking zinc lozenges at the first sign of a cold or flu can also be helpful.

Zinc boosts immune function and plays a vital role in activating your body’s T cells (white blood cells tasked with destroying infected cells). If you fall victim to frequent bacterial infections or colds, your body might be trying to tell you it needs more zinc.

Be Aware of This Lifesaving IV Protocol

If you or a loved one contracts sepsis, whether caused by influenza or some other infection, please remember that a protocol of IV vitamin C with hydrocortisone and thiamine (vitamin B1) can be lifesaving.22 So, urge your doctor to use it. Chances are, they might not even be aware of it.

This sepsis treatment protocol was developed Dr. Paul Marik23,24 when he was a critical care doctor at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in East Virginia, and clinical use has proven it to be remarkably effective for the treatment of sepsis, reducing mortality nearly fivefold.

Marik’s retrospective before-after clinical study showed that giving patients IV vitamin C with hydrocortisone and vitamin B1 for two days reduced mortality from 40% to 8.5%. Of the 50 patients treated, only four died, and all of them died from their underlying disease, not sepsis. Importantly, the treatment has no side effects and is inexpensive, readily available and simple to administer, so you really have nothing to lose by trying it.

The only contraindication is if you are glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient (a genetic disorder).25 G6PD is an enzyme your red blood cells need to maintain membrane integrity.

High-dose IV vitamin C is a strong pro-oxidant, and giving a pro-oxidant to a G6PD-deficient individual can cause their red blood cells to rupture, which could have disastrous consequences. Fortunately, G6PC deficiency is relatively uncommon, and can be tested for.

People of Mediterranean and African decent are at greater risk of being G6PC deficient. Worldwide, G6PD deficiency is thought to affect 400 million individuals, and in the U.S., an estimated 1 in 10 African-American males have it.26

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