NORTH CAROLINA -- The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services announced the state’s first flu-related deaths of the 2017-18 season on Thursday after two adults died of complications from influenza infection from mid-to-late October.

One of the deaths occurred in the Piedmont, and the other occurred in the eastern region of the state.

To protect individual privacy, neither person's hometown, county, age or gender will be released.

DHHS is urging North Carolinians to get flu shots.

Those who contract the flu pose a risk to others as well as themselves.

Information on where to find a flu shot can be found on the Flu Finder website

Flu infections are most common from late fall to early spring with peak activity usually occurring in January or February.