Number of flu victims in the UK more than doubles in one week, reaches 254

The number of flu victims has more than doubled from 112 to 254, partly due to a backlog of information processing due to year-end holidays. That doesn’t change the fact that the flu has claimed 254 human lives in the United Kingdom alone this flu season. 195 of the victims have been confirmed to have had the H1N1 (swine flu) strain of the disease. Also, the majority of the victims were under 65 years of age, with 7 confirmed deaths in children under five. We have incomplete information on vaccination status, but based on what is known so far, among 71 cases in which vaccination status was known, 83 percent had not received a flu shot this season.

“Our latest flu report suggests levels of flu are declining …but nonetheless flu is still circulating in the community and the message remains that people in an at-risk group should get the seasonal flu vaccine,” said John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA.