A total of 131 people have died from flu during the two epidemics in Bulgaria in the period December 2010 – March 2011, showed data from the public health body RIOKOZ.

According to Angel Galabov, head of the Institute of Microbiology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAN), a total of 27 608 Bulgarians have been hospitalized during the four months of the flu epidemics.

"Of the 131 death cases, 110 have died from pneumonia, 10 – from flu, 10 – from complications following flu, and one – from acute respiratory illness," Galabov said.

He explained that the most common complications of flu are bronchitis, laryngitis, otitis media, sinusitis, and cute respiratory failure, and the most affected age group is people between 46 and 64 years.

Of the deceased, 45 people were between 46 and 64 years old, 42 people were above 65, 19 people were between 30-45, seven – between 15 and 29. Five of them were children between 5 and 14 years, while 13 were the children below 4 years.

"This means that the flu remains a serious problem which should be given special attention by different organizations in the European Union and in Bulgaria," Galabov said.

He noted that Bulgaria was well equipped with anti-flu patent medicines and that the serious illnesses were caused by seasonal flu.

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