WHO Defends Flu Response Amid Exaggeration Claims

Mortality from the new H1N1 strain is “unquestionably higher” than the death toll reported by national authorities, the Geneva-based agency said in a report seen by Bloomberg News before its scheduled publication today. Deaths totaled more than 7,820 as of Nov. 22, said WHO, which estimates as many as 500,000 people die each year from seasonal strains.

Health authorities worldwide are assessing whether their response to swine flu is justified by its threat as cases of flu-like illness retreat in the U.S. and U.K. While a majority of patients recover within days and reported fatalities are a fraction of the seasonal flu toll, these figures mask the full impact of swine flu on society, WHO said.

“Compared with seasonal influenza, the H1N1 virus affects a much younger age group in all categories — those most frequently infected, hospitalized, requiring intensive care, and dying,” WHO said in the report.

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“If you look at years of personal life lost, it’s much higher, and that’s the point we have to get across,” Osterholm said in a telephone interview today. “A death in an otherwise healthy 24-year-old, to me, is a major defeat for society.”

Full Article: here.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Novel H1N1 Influenza A (human swine flu), WHO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.