Some 112 people including 11
children under the age of 14 have died of influenza in Italy
since September, the Higher Health Institute's (ISS) Flunews
service said Friday.
Two pregnant women also died, Flunews said.
Some 588 cases were severe enough to be treated in intensive
care units, the ISS service said.
In the last week, the sixth in 2018, Flunews said, there have
been 12 severe cases of flu and one death.
Data are being continually updated, the service said.
The ISS experts said almost all the cases would have been
avoidable by vaccination.
They said that, while vaccines do not always prevent flu,
they do prevent the most severe forms.
The 11 children who died all "presented risk factors," the
experts added.
Italy is having a record flu season and there will have been
7.5-8 million cases by the end of this year's epidemic,
virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco told ANSA at the end of last
month.
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