New swine flu death estimate
Tuesday June 26th, 2012
More than half a million people may have died during the emergence of the swine flu virus, researchers say today.
During the first 15 months of the outbreak, laboratories around the world confirmed that some 18,500 people died from infection from the virus.
But the US government researchers say the impact of the outbreak was at least ten times worse - with laboratories in many countries receiving very few samples from those killed by the H1N1 virus.
Writing in The Lancet, they say that the total number of deaths lay between 151,700 and 575,400 deaths.
Researcher Dr Fatimah Dawood said: "The study underscores the significant human toll of an influenza pandemic.
"We hope that this work can be used not only to improve influenza disease burden modelling globally, but to improve the public health response during future pandemics in parts of the world that suffer more deaths, and to increase the public's awareness of the importance of influenza prevention."
* Writing in the same journal, researchers say that swine flu vaccination programme was successful in Scotland.
Researchers say that 77 per cent of those who received the vaccine escaped infection with the virus. At the time just 16 per cent of people had received the vaccine.
The researchers point to reductions in hospital admissions as further evidence.
Researcher Dr Colin Simpson, of Edinburgh University, Scotland, said: "Policy makers ought to be encouraged that our vaccine estimates obtained are similar to those reported for seasonal influenza.
"However, despite the best efforts to encourage the most vulnerable to be vaccinated, there were low rates of uptake in the very young and pregnant women who were most susceptible to the pandemic."
Tags: Flu & Viruses | North America | UK News | World Health
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