In total 16 people have died so far during the flu season in Slovakia. Out of these the swine flu claimed six lives and SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory-tract Infections) 10, experts of the Slovak Public Health Authority (ÚVZ) told the TASR newswire.
In total 71 people were stricken by the swine flu while doctors reported 43 cases of SARI, Lenka Skalická, spokeswoman of ÚVZ informed. This means more people are suffering from flu this year compared to the previous one. During the previous flu season there were no reported deaths from the swine flu when 23 people were afflicted. Experts reported 29 cases of SARI with five people dying from it.
The swine flu virus – A(H1N1) has been confirmed in a bigger amount of samples compared with the same period of the previous flu season, said Skalická. This strain of influenza can already be considered a common seasonal strain circulating in the population. Its higher occurrence is explained by a low vaccination rate where less than 5 percent of people were vaccinated during the previous season.
“Compared with countries of western Europe this is very little,” said Skalická.
Flu vaccines for this flu season contain also antigens of the virus of the A(H1N1) type.
