Swine flu kills one in 2,000: study

One of the most systematic looks yet at the swine flu pandemic confirms that it is at worst only a little more serious than an average flu season and could well be a good deal milder, researchers said.

One of the most systematic looks yet at the swine flu pandemic confirms that it is at worst only a little more serious than an average flu season and could well be a good deal milder, researchers said.

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They analysed data from Milwaukee and New York, two US cities that have kept detailed tabs on outbreaks of H1N1, to calculate a likely mortality rate of 0.048 per cent.

“That is, about 1 in 2,000 people who had symptoms of pandemic H1N1 infection died,” Dr. Marc Lipsitch of Harvard University and colleagues wrote.

Probably 1.44 per cent of patients with H1N1 who were sick enough to have symptoms were hospitalised, and 0.24 per cent required intensive care, they added.