Hungary flu death toll at 25, epidemic eases

A total of 25 people have died in Hungary this year after suffering from some type of influenza, a chief doctor of the National Epidemiology Center said. Overall, fewer people were taken to hospital with this disease than a week before.

Twenty-two patients were diagnosed with the H1N1 new flu virus and the other three patients had contracted the type B influenza virus, Zsuzsanna Molnár said.

Most of the adult victims, or 22, were considered to be high-risk patients as a result of a chronic illness. None of them had been vaccinated against the flu, Molnár added.

Fewer people were registered as suffering from flu-like symptoms last week than in the previous week in 17 out of Hungary's 20 counties. The number of people reporting flu-like symptoms increased only in southern Csongrád County, Molnár said.

Overall, 12% fewer people were taken to hospital with flu-like symptoms last week than a week earlier, she added.