Influenza

The number of people who have died from influenza-related complications rose to eight over the weekend, the Athens-Macedonia News Agency reported on Monday, without releasing any additional details.

A total of 30 people are currently in hospital being treated for the flu, with 15 of them in intensive care.

The number of people in Greece who have died this flu season after contracting the virus has risen to eight, health officials said on Monday.

Another 30 people have been hospitalized in intensive care units. Fifteen of those remain in the hospital, under observation.

The number of Greeks who have died from flu this winter has reached 7, the AMNA news agency reported on Thursday.

According to figures released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO), 12 patients were admitted to intensive care units in the last few days, raising the number of people being treated at intensive care units to 22.

Health authorities in Greece have called on citizens to be particularly scrupulous with personal hygiene amid a spike in the number of flu cases which has led to five deaths this season, with another 10 people in intensive-care units.

Health authorities in Greece are on standby for a sharp rise in the number of flu cases, believing that the current cold snap following a mild winter has created the ideal conditions for the virus to spread.

Japan on Dec. 29 ordered the slaughter of some 42,000 chickens after officials confirmed the country's second bird flu outbreak in less than a month.

DNA tests confirmed the H5 strain of the virus at a farm in Miyazaki prefecture in the country's southwest after its owner reported Sunday that several chickens had suddenly died, the local government said.

The World Health Organization cautioned Nov. 18 that a new kind of bird flu hitting European poultry farms would spread among birds, after Britain confirmed its outbreak was of the same strain as in the Netherlands and Germany.
      

A case of bird flu has been detected on a duck-breeding farm in northern England but it is not the deadly H5N1 strain, the government said on Monday, as officials began culling thousands of birds.
   

Bulgaria ranks last among European countries in terms of the implementation of preventive measures against the flu, especially the use of the seasonal flu vaccine.

Doctors recommend vaccination particularly to the elderly, people suffering from diabetes, heart diseases and chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and bronchitis.

This winter's flu strains will most likely be the same as last year's, said Dr Mayda Tiholova, national consultant on infectious diseases, for the Bulgarian National Radio.

The epidemic will most likely peak in January and February, as usual.