Earlier this week, Pennsylvania saw its first influenza-related death.

According to Schuylkill County Coroner Dr. David Moylan III, a 50-year-old woman from Schuylkill County entered a hospital in the Pottsville area, but she went into respiratory failure shortly after going into the emergency room."Smoking was a factor and an underlying cause in her death," Moylan said. "The take-away from this is don't smoke and get vaccinated."The Pennsylvania Department of Health keeps track of the number of influenza cases that crop up each week throughout the entire year. The flu season officially runs from Week 40 (Oct. 2, 2016) to Week 20 (May 20, 2017).As of Week 43 (Oct. 23 through 29), laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza in the state were categorized as sporadic by the Department of Health, with Northampton County having 22 confirmed cases, the most in the region. Lehigh, Monroe, Berks and Luzerne also reported cases. Carbon and Schuylkill counties didn't have any confirmed cases."Vaccination is your best defense against the upcoming flu season, next to hand hygiene and avoiding contact or shaking hands with people with flu or coldlike symptoms," said Dr. Susheer Gandotra, medical director of infectious disease at Pocono Medical Center.Gandotra said there haven't been any confirmed cases of flu at their Monroe County facilities. Similarly, Bridget McEnrue, manager of infection control and prevention at St. Luke's University Health Network, said they haven't had any inpatient admissions related to the flu.But in Carbon County, Kathleen Matika, the director of infection control for Blue Mountain Health System, said they had one confirmed case at Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital. It was Type A, but they won't know what subtype until additional testing is done in the laboratory.Moylan said the deceased Schuylkill woman also had Type A, but the subtype isn't known at this time either. A nasal swab was sent to the state, and the subtype will determined through further testing.Dr. Luther Rhodes, an infection specialist with Lehigh Valley Health Network, explained that there are two types of flu viruses, Type A and Type B, that vaccines protect people against.So far this season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that Type A has been the dominant infection, infecting 85 percent of the people. Of that group,the subtype that has infected people 75 percent of the timealso carries the most risk for complications, Rhodes said. Some of the complications include a higher rate of pneumonia, severe ear infections, hospitalizations and deaths."People with certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, chronic heart and lung disease are at higher risk for complications of the flu," said Matika with Blue Mountain Health System. "Anyone in these groups should not hesitate to seek treatment in the emergency department to prevent complications."All of the experts agreed that if a person is experiencing high fevers, muscle aches and pains, shortness of breath, can't eat or drink or has chest pain, they should go to the emergency room.One of the differences between the flu and a severe cold is that people with the flu can pinpoint almost to the hour when they first felt sick, Rhodes said.The number of cases of the flu is small right now, but "that can change in a weekend. Flu isn't too subtle when it starts," he said.Rhodes recommends that people in the high-risk categories or women who are pregnant or think they may become pregnant during the flu season should get a flu shot soon. It takes two weeks for a person to be fully protected from the flu."Influenza can be a terrible complication in pregnancy," he said.