Swine flu in 2009 probably claimed over a quarter of a million lives − 15 times more than the 18,500 reported, it was claimed yesterday.
Unlike most other mortality estimates for the 2009 pandemic, this study includes estimated mortality for countries in southeast Asia and Africa where surveillance data on influenza-associated mortality are limited
And the shock figures underline the need for better planning and vaccine distribution, said a team of epidemiologists and physicians in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
They made a statistical model based on population and infection estimates to present what they believe is a more accurate picture of the H1N1 virus pandemic’s reach.
“This study is one of the first to provide a global estimate of deaths caused by the 2009 virus,” said Fatimah Dawood of the US government’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Unlike most other mortality estimates for the 2009 pandemic, this study includes estimated mortality for countries in southeast Asia and Africa where surveillance data on influenza-associated mortality are limited.”
Some 18,500 deaths had been reported to the World Health Organisation from confirmed laboratory test results but the international researchers believe this number to be a gross underestimation.
They wrote that “... diagnostic specimens are not always obtained from people who die with influenza and the viruses might no longer be detectable by the time of death in some people”.
The team estimated there were 284,500 deaths from swine flu in the 12 months from April 2009. But the figure may be as high as 575,400, they said.
Between 250,000 and 500,000 people die of seasonal influenza every year, according to the WHO.
In the flu 2009 season, H1N1 was the predominant virus” said Ms Dawood.
But comparing the numbers alone did not yield an accurate picture, she stressed, as 80 per cent of swine flu victims were younger than 65, while the yearly seasonal flu mainly tends to claim older victims.
The researchers said 51 per cent of swine flu deaths was estimated to have occurred in southeast Asia and Africa, which account for 38 per cent of the world’s population.
The team hoped the work would help improve planning and surveillance, as well as boost vaccine production and delivery, especially to Africa and southeast Asia, ahead of future pandemics.
Dubbed swine flu, the virus affected some 214 countries and territories after it was uncovered in Mexico and the US in April 2009.
The WHO declared it a pandemic in June that year. It was declared over in August 2010.
A WHO-appointed group of experts last year published a damning report on the UN health agency’s handling of the pandemic, saying that it failed to issue timely guidance and that its flu plans needed revision.
The Council of Europe accused the agency of causing unjustified scares and a waste of public money as countries scrambled to buy vaccines.
Factbox
• First described in April 2009, the virus appeared to be a new strain of H1N1 from an assortment of bird, swine and human flu viruses combined with a Eurasian pig virus, leading to the term swine flu.
• Symptoms were similar to those of influenza, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.
• The virus could not be spread by eating pork or pork products but it was typically contracted by person to person transmission through respiratory droplets.
• Symptoms usually lasted four to six days and anti-virals were recommended for those with more severe symptoms or those in an at-risk group.