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A TWO-YEAR-OLD boy has become the first child victim in NSW to be claimed by the killer flu that has gripped the country.The toddler from Bathurst in the state's Central West died at his family home on Friday and tests last night confirmed the child tested positive for the brutal influenza virus that has already killed five children across the country. The five other children - three in Western Australia, one in Queensland and one in Victoria - have also been reported as dying from illness associated with Influenza A. Last week a Queensland father, aged 37, died of a flu-related illness. As the news broke late last night, NSW Health director of communicable diseases Jeremy McAnulty told The Daily Telegraph the health department received an urgent notification early on Monday evening of the toddler's death at his family home in Bathurst. "We had a report of a two-year-old boy who died on Friday in Bathurst and tests that have come back today indicate he had influenza A,'' he said. "How much of that contributed to his death we don't know for sure but certainly (it is) very suspicious that it was related.'' Dr McAnulty said at this early stage the young boy did not appear to have any underlying contributing causes such as asthma, but he said that the case was now under further investigation. The Daily Telegraph understands the child succumbed to the virus rapidly and that local medical teams are now questioning other family members to see if they need to take precautionary measures. "This is the first death in a child we have had recorded (in NSW) this season,'' Dr McAnulty said. "It is a very unusual event and of course tragic but it is a known, rare, complication of the flu. "(It is) a reminder to all people that NSW and the rest of Australia is experiencing one of the worst flu seasons for some years. "Influenza is not like a common cold. It affects all ages and deaths in children are very rare indeed, so it is important to put this tragic case in context.'' As other child-deaths have occurred across the country, the State Government has urged concerned parents to be cautious of rushing their children into hospital emergency departments. Figures which have been obtained by The Daily Telegraph from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages revealed in 2006 there were only six recorded deaths listing influenza as a primary or contributory factor. This year alone, there have already been 14 influenza-related deaths in the state - nine of those in July.As in the days of Noah...
