59 children or pregnant women died during 2010/11 flu season

Fifty children and nine pregnant women died from flu during the 2010/11 flu season, according to Health Protection Agency figures released today.

There were 25 deaths in children aged 5-14 years, 16 in children aged between 1-4 and nine in children less than one year of age.

Whilst the pensioners and at-risk queued to get their flu jab at the start of the flu season, it was young people and middle aged adults who were hit hardest by the illness.

More than 70 per cent of fatal cases of flu affected people between the ages of 15 and 64 years of age.

People in this age group also had higher hospital admissions.

In the South West, a total of 29 people died from flu.

The figures were published today by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in their annual flu report.

A total of of 602 people in the UK died from a confirmed influenza infection.

Professor John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the HPA, said: “The information published in our annual flu report confirms that seasonal flu activity in 2010/11 was higher than last winter and that H1N1 ‘swine’ flu was the dominant strain. Sadly, a small proportion of flu cases resulted in serious illness and death, predominantly in young and middle aged adults.

“Each year hundreds of thousands of people catch flu and the majority will make a full recovery. Traditionally the elderly have been more seriously affected by winter flu but the picture is beginning to change as we are now seeing a higher proportion of young and middle aged people taken seriously ill.”