A MOTHER is issuing a dire warning to parents after her newborn wound up in the NICU.

The two-week-old landed in the emergency room after a common cold.

Mom Tracy Keck said a common cold is not so simple anymore. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports the last flu season was the most severe in a decade, and health experts say now is the time to protect yourself before cases rise again.

The intensity of the cold and flu season is reported based on influenza-like illness (ILI) outpatient visits, flu-related hospitalizations, and flu-related deaths.

Keck said she and her family take flu prevention seriously after her baby's hospitalization, she told Salt Lake City, Utah, NBC affiliate KSL-TV .

“That was really a wake-up call of how damaging even a simple virus

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