Dr Doug Quarry, medical director, Pandemic Preparedness with International SOS, which has been providing great updates on the crisis so far. This is
what he has to say:
"Swine flu is a mild or moderate disease, the minimum death rate is thought to be 0.1% of those infected."
www.guardian.co.uk...
It is common to encounter clinical attack rate ranges for seasonal flu of 5% to 15% in the literature. For pandemic flu, clinical attack rates are
reported in the range of 25% to 50%.
During a typical year in the United States, 30,000 to 50,000 persons die as a result of influenza viral infection. Frequently cited numbers are 20,000
deaths each year, and 37,000 annual deaths. About 5-10% of hospitalizations for influenza lead to fatal outcome in adults.
www.globalsecurity.org...
Influenza kills many people every year, the reason it is not stated as a pandemic is due to being the different strains of the virus.
We have a pandemic currently due to the same strain being reported in more than two WHO countries Though this does not neccesarily mean the mortality
rate will be higher than the seasonal flu.
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