The swine flu pandemic affected as many as half of all children, British researchers have reported.
In total 20% of the populations of the most affected countries were exposed to the virus, according to a study led by Imperial College, London, UK.
The findings, part of a World Health Organisation backed project, confirm that the virus spread through children, who mostly displayed minor symptoms. They say it affected 47% of children.
Although about 200,000 people died, the researchers say this represented about two in every 10,000 people infected.
Researchers brought together the findings from more than 24 pieces of research in five countries, involving more than 90,000 blood samples for their study reported in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.
Researcher Dr Anthony Mounts said: "Knowing the proportion of the population infected in different age groups and the proportion of those infected who died will help public health decision-makers plan for and respond to pandemics.
"This information will be used to quantify severity and develop mathematical models to predict how flu outbreaks spread and what effect different interventions may have."
Van Kerkhove et al. Estimating age-specific cumulative incidence for the 2009 influenza pandemic: a meta-analysis of A(H1N1)pdm09 serological studies from 19 countries. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 25 January 2013 doi: 10.1111/irv.12074.
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