At Risk Teens, GET YOUR FLU SHOT!

TUESDAY, Nov. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Too few American adolescents with asthma and other high-risk illnesses are getting flu shots, a new study finds.

In children and adolescents with high-risk conditions, flu can lead to severe illness, hospitalization and even death.

Influenza vaccination has been recommended for adolescents with high-risk conditions for well over a decade," study author Mari Nakamura, a clinical fellow in pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston, said in a Harvard Medical School news release.

Nakamura and colleagues concluded that both parents and health-care providers must be part of any intervention strategy designed to boost flu vaccination rates among high-risk adolescents. For example, letters to parents and electronic reminders to health-care providers have been shown to help improve vaccination rates.

Click here for more information about flu shots.

Thank you to CNN.com and Health Day for this information.