BOSTON (AP) – A Worcester State College student has died from the flu, but state public health officials do not yet know if it was the strain of influenza that has killed children in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Dr. Al DeMaria, the state’s director of communicable disease control, said the student was diagnosed with strain A-type influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is testing to see if it was the so-called “Fujian” strain.

DeMaria said influenza is becoming widespread in Massachusetts and needs to be taken seriously. He sent a letter Wednesday to health care providers and public health professionals across the state, asking them to report unusual cases or unusual severity.

“The message is that the flu is bad and it’s out there,” DeMaria said. “Anything unusual we want to know about – young people with severe cases, pregnant women.”

New England Cable News reported the student, a Winthrop resident, died at Massachusetts General Hospital. DeMaria, declining to give more personal details about the student, said the student died last week.

Department of Public Health spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelec said a number of college students in the Worcester area have been diagnosed with the flu, including a roommate of the student who died.

“But we’re not hearing of unusually severe cases among them,” she said.

State health officials are urging all people over 65 and those between six months and 23 months to get a flu vaccine. DeMaria also asked parents to watch out for flu symptoms and unusual behavior in their children, including inability to keep down liquids, dehydration, shortness of breath and mood swings.

DeMaria says several hundred people die each year from influenza in Massachusetts, and 36,000 will die nationwide.

AP-ES-12-10-03 2057EST