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It is not easy to determine that how many people died so far from the swine flu, this is primarily due to lack of uniform standards to measure such occurrences across the globe. Underreporting, lack of infrastructure and awareness in many countries also contribute to inaccuracy in results. It was assumed that 176 people in Mexico have died due to swine flu but when all the medical samples and documents were re-examined the actual death toll turned out to be half of the official record. This huge deviation occurred as earlier report was presented purely on basis of suspicion. When samples were sent to US for verification the accurate answer to ‘how many people have died so far from the swine flu in Mexico?’ was known. The misperception was due to fear and also because of media that played crucial role in circulating an exacerbated picture across the whole world.
The death rate during this period due to flu was relatively high and people thought that each death was due to swine flu. The first pandemic of swine flu was compared with the avian flu and it was found that swine flu is not as dangerous as it was perceived to be. Since there is no satisfactory vaccination for swine flu till now, and media has compared it to Spanish flu it has become a source of panic among common people. Although no one can ignore the fact that swine flu is perceived to be slightly more dangerous that common influenza virus.
However one can remain safe to some extent from swine flu by taking the influenza vaccine provided by the drug stores and distributing networks in addition to following the suggestions for the prevention from swine flu.
How many people have died so far from the swine flu globally?
In the year 2009, 13277 lab confirmed swine flu deaths were reported by ECDC, whereas WHO estimated deaths to be more than 8786 human lives. The number of deaths was relatively insignificant when compared to human lives claimed by seasonal flu, as per an estimate all most half a million people die due to seasonal flu every year across the globe. Not only this, swine flu seems to be less mortal that seasonal flu, this fact can be realized by looking at the mortality rate of swine flu and seasonal flu. The swine flu mortality rate is around 0.01% whereas mortality rate of seasonal flu is as high as 0.03%.
Now, if you are still wondering ‘how many people have died so far from the swine flu and how lethal is swine flu?’ then probably you should multiply the figures of WHO or ECDC by at least 10 as, for every one case that is lab confirmed there would be at least 10 that are not reported or not detected.