Seasonal flu deaths more than double in Britain

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of deaths in a seasonal flu epidemic that has swept Britain since October more than doubled to 112 on Thursday, up from 50 a week earlier, figures from the Health Protection Agency showed.

Of the 112 confirmed deaths, 95 had the H1N1 flu strain that spread around the world as a pandemic in 2009 and 2010, officials said.

The majority of those who died were under 65 years old and nine cases were in children under 14. Since October, there have been six deaths in children under five.

The agency said most of the additional 62 deaths documented since last week did not actually occur in the past week, but in December. They were only confirmed in the past week because of a backlog over the seasonal holiday period.

"Flu is still circulating in the community and the message remains that those people in an at-risk group should have their seasonal flu vaccine as soon as possible as this is the best way to protect themselves from flu this winter," said John Watson, head of the agency's respiratory diseases department.

The surge in flu cases has led to local shortages of seasonal vaccines, but Britain's Chief Medical Officer Sally Davies last week advised doctors to use pandemic vaccines left over from last season if stocks of this year's vaccines run out.

Flu vaccines are made by several drugmakers, including Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, France's Sanofi-Aventis and the Swiss firm Novartis, all of which also made H1N1 shots last season to deal with the pandemic.

The 2009/10 pandemic proved less severe than feared and substantial stockpiles of pandemic vaccine went unused.

The agency said in a statement that the death figures so far represent "only a proportion of those who may have died from flu or complications from flu" in the current season.

British authorities do not usually give regular updates of deaths from seasonal flu but are doing so this year because the pandemic H1N1 strain was expected to be dominant.

Estimates for flu related deaths each winter are typically between 0 and 5,000, the agency said, but those deaths are predominantly in people over 65 years of age, rather than the mainly younger people being killed by this year's seasonal flu.

"It is important that people do all they can to reduce the spread of the virus," Watson said. He advised "covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze, disposing of the tissue as soon as possible and cleaning your hands as soon you can."

(Editing by Steve Addison)