BUCHAREST, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior man died of flu Wednesday, bringing the flu season's death toll to 10 in Romania, according to the health ministry.
The last death was an 82-year-old from the western city of Arad, whose immunity system had been weakened by other diseases and who had not been vaccinated.
From Dec. 31 to Jan. 6, 53,000 cases of acute respiratory tract infections (RTI) were recorded in Romania, up 9.1 percent year-on-year, according to statistics published by the National Center for Surveillance and Control of Communicable Diseases on Jan. 10.
Experts attributed the rise in RTI cases to dramatic changes in temperature, advising people to eat more vitamin-rich food and wash their hands regularly.
Romanian Health Minister Sorina Pintea has noted that none of those who died of flu in Romania were vaccinated. "Every death is worrying us," she said.
The only measure that can prevent flu is vaccination, Catalin Apostolescu, spokesman of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Matei Bals in Bucharest, was quoted as saying by local media.
