2009 swine flu outbreak was 15 times deadlier: study [View all]
(Reuters) - The swine flu pandemic of 2009 killed an estimated 284,500 people, some 15 times the number confirmed by laboratory tests at the time, according to a new study by an international group of scientists.
The study, published on Tuesday in the London-based journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, said the toll might have been even higher - as many as 579,000 people.
The original count, compiled by the World Health Organization, put the number at 18,500.
Those were only the deaths confirmed by lab testing, which the WHO itself warned was a gross underestimate because the deaths of people without access to the health system go uncounted, and because the virus is not always detectable after a victim dies.
The new study also shows the pandemic's impact varied widely by region, with 51 percent of swine flu deaths occurring in Africa and southeast Asia, which account for only 38 percent of the world's population.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/26/us-swineflu-idUSBRE85O1DF20120626
Next person who says H1N1 was overrated and the vaccine was a scam can go to hell. But of course since most of the deaths were in Africa and SE Asia they don't matter right?
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