Eight people died of seasonal influenza last week, bringing the death toll nationwide since Oct. 1 last year to 34, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
From Sunday last week to this past Sunday, a total of 124,118 people sought treatment for flu-like symptoms at hospitals and clinics nationwide, an increase of 7.6 percent from the previous week.
Of those, 118 were had severe complications associated with the flu, and 80 percent had influenza A subtype H1N1, the CDC said.
In the agency’s weekly report, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said the fatalities included a 38-year-old diabetic who arrived at a hospital emergency room with serious flu-like symptoms, which led to him going into cardiac arrest.
The man was resuscitated, but later died from flu-related complications, becoming the youngest fatality since the beginning of the current flu season in October, Lin wrote.
None of the eight people who died had been recently vaccinated against the flu, Lin said.
So far this flu season, 617 people have been found to have severe complications, most of whom are 50 years old or above, and 99 percent had not been recently vaccinated and 80 percent had one or more chronic diseases, Lin said.
To help avoid infection, people should wash their hands regularly and refrain from visiting crowded or poorly ventilated venues, while those with respiratory symptoms should wear masks, although the best protection is to get a flu shot, the CDC said.
As of yesterday, 1.21 million doses of government-funded flu vaccine were still available, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
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