system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What are people actually dying from when they "die from the flu"?
gpt
They can die from a variety of things. It is a common misconception that the flu alone cannot kill you if you are young and healthy but this is not true. The 5 year old answer is that the flu can make you stop breathing and you can die. The more detailed response is that even in healthy people the bodies own response to the virus can lead to a condition called ARDS (adult respiratory distress syndrome). The lungs are damaged by the immune response to the virus and are flooded with immune cells and cells that make scar tissue. Many young healthy people die from this way from the flu and even sometimes other cold viruses such as coronavirus and RSV.

It is also true that the flu also kills in other people by triggering heart attacks, asthma attacks, heart failure, and other problems in those already suffering from pre-existing conditions.