A 5-year-old child in Blagoevgrad died after flu symptoms quickly developed into pneumonia, chief national health inspector Dr. Angel Kunchev told Focus News Agency.

“At the moment I can only say that it was flu with pneumonia complications. Sometimes those complications are very swift and severe, [develop] within 24 to 48 hours, become incompatible with life, with severe respiratory failure, and it leads to death,” Dr. Kunchev said.

Like flu, pneumonia symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, cough, but instead of easing within 2-3 days, they tend to deepen and one’s condition gets worse, though it still may not be pneumonia, Dr. Kunchev explained. He stressed that patients should not self-diagnose and self-treat, they must seek medical help.

He said timely vaccination, the best prevention, was rare in Bulgaria as only 4-5% of the population opted for vaccination. While vaccines do not 100% protect against flu infection, they do protect against complications, he noted.

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