Study indicates 2009 swine flu outbreak was 15 times deadlier

Date: Mon 25 Jun 2012
Source: Reuters [edited]
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL2E8HP39Y20120625


Study  indicates 2009 swine flu outbreak was 15 times deadlier
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The swine flu pandemic of 2009 [A/H1N1 pdm09 virus infection] 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 [19 Jun 2012] 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 Organisation (WHO), 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..