People get flu every day, and keep in mind that people die of flu every day. In the USA an estimated 36 000 deaths a year. From a population of about 300 million that's 12 per 100 000 people per year. They have a reasonably good first world healthcare system so if we extrapolate that to the UK it'd be about 7 440 deaths per year. Stats I've seen in the press this week suggest 10 000 per year.
That's why we try to give all older people flu vaccine free on the NHS.
So today publicly we see the DoH's 'worst case' figures for what could happen if swine flu becomes a pandemic and they are ...
Up to half the UK population - 30 million people - becoming infected if the outbreak turns into a pandemic. Up to 2,000 hospital admissions per 100,000 people - or 1.2 million total and up to 1,250 fatalities per 100,000 - or 750,000 people. A lot more than 10 000 per year. But higher medical authorities than I are suggesting our high state of readiness - and trust me we are ready - will lessen this.
If you have a young child / baby, are elderly or have a pre-existing respiratory problem or an immunodeficiency problem take care, 'catch it, bin it, kill it' as they say.
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