New Swine Flu Death Estimate Much Higher

The H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009 killed about 11 times as many people as previously reported, a new study finds. The World Health Organization (WHO) had said there were 18,500 deaths. But this included only people whose infection with H1N1 was confirmed by a laboratory. Many other flu deaths may not have been confirmed. The new study involved 60 researchers in 26 countries. They looked at numbers for virus activity and deaths caused by respiratory illness in 20 countries. These countries totaled more than one-third of the world’s population. They found that these deaths were far above normal in 2009. They also were much more likely than usual to occur among young adults. H1N1 tended to cause the most severe illness among younger people. Based on these numbers, the researchers estimated that H1N1 caused 123,000 to 203,000 deaths worldwide.