WHO: Nearly 5,000 H1N1 Deaths Worldwide

(AP)  Nearly 5,000 people have reportedly died from swine flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global epidemic, the World Health Organization said Friday.

Since most countries have stopped counting individual swine flu cases, the figure is considered an underestimate.

WHO said there were 4,999 total deaths through Oct. 18, most of them in the Western Hemisphere. The figure was up 264 from a week earlier.

Iceland had its first swine flu death this week, and WHO said Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago also reported deaths from the virus for the first time this week.

In London, drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC said children may only need one shot of its swine flu vaccine to be protected.

In its statement Friday, Glaxo said one dose was enough to boost children's immune systems to fight the virus, based on data from a trial in Spain in 200 children aged six months to 3 years.

Glaxo's finding comes after experts said they expected children would need two doses, since their immune systems are weaker than those of adults. Last week, rival vaccine maker Sanofi Aventis said children would likely need two doses of vaccine against swine flu, or H1N1.

GlaxoSmithKline's Pandemrix vaccine contains an adjuvant, a chemical compound that stretches a vaccine's active ingredient and increases the human body's immune response. While European flu vaccines commonly use adjuvants, there is limited data on how safe they are in groups including children and pregnant women.

The adjuvant in Glaxo's swine flu vaccine has been used in more than 41,000 people in bird flu, swine flu and regular flu vaccines.

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Swine flu vaccines in the U.S. do not have adjuvants. Some countries have ordered special stocks of vaccines without adjuvants for their at-risk populations.

While most people recover from swine flu without needing medical treatment, the virus strikes children particularly hard.

According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of hospitalizations and nearly a quarter of deaths due to swine flu are in children and adults under 25.

An Associated Press-GfK poll found that a third of American parents don't want their children to get the swine flu shot, with many citing concerns about side effects.

Of the thousands of people who have so far received the swine flu vaccine, the most commonly reported side effects have been soreness where the injection was given and minor flu symptoms.

[wyodutch]

Ain't no-body gonna get off this planet alive... The Grim Reaper will pay each and every one of us a visit.
.
If the flu don't gitchya.. then you'll slip on the ice or choke on a hot wing... or well.. you know.
.
Relax.. enjoy this thing we call life and quit worrying about some turbaned terrorist or virile virus punching your ticket.

[Hosheen]

Compare this to the 600,000+ a year that die from the effects of smoking. It sounds to me like someone is trying to panic people into making huge donations for this. Swine Flu is just another scam on the general public. I say, do nothing and maybe nature will cull the ranks on the over-populated planet a bit.

[bubbadubba]

WOW!
5,000 dead world wide.
That makes the 30,000 who die each year in the US alone from the regular flu look like nothing compared to the swine flu deaths.
No wait, I got confused because of all the hype about the swine flu.
Never mind.

[mollydtt]

credibility2---keep a lookout for free vaccine clinics.
Whenever one is announced, they run out of vaccine pretty quickly, but then another one is announced. (seasonal flu vaccine only at this point in my part of the country).
Sometimes those "free-vaccine" clinics are underwritten by other entities, so not always just funded by taxes.
My insurance doesn't cover the cost of any flu vaccine--ever. Well, actually, if the "vaccine" is free, then the copay for "administration" is $35. (Not really "free" in my opinion.)
But--I work for a large employer that offered clinics for seasonal flu vaccine that only cost $10. The rest of the cost was underwritten by the employer. No H1N1 vaccine, though, because the very limited doses that are arriving here (in Austin) are primarily Flumist, and most healthcare clinics are reserving almost 100 per cent of that for children ages 2-4.

[credibility2]

A lot more kids and young adults are being infected with this and surviving, thankfully, but they're not being included in the numbers to show the far reaching stats on this pandemic. In IL where I reside, they began giving the vaccine to individuals free. Another burden on the taxpayer. Although not the same vaccine, I'd like someone to explain to me why I had to pay $25 (my insurance doesn't cover) for mine and if I decide to get the swine flu version, I'm sure I won't get it for free. Now, why is that? It's still not known how this strain formed, but it is known that it began emerging in Mexico and spread throughout the world by those who came in contact with those infected. Thanks Mexico!

[sandy19731]

The regular flu vaccine is selling for around $20.00 a dose + whatever the administrator (the medical people) charges to administer it.

The H1N1 vaccine is being paid for by tax dollars and most administrators are not charging to administer it, or are charging very little.

Blaming Mexico is just plain stupid.

[DaVicar8]

5000 out of 6.5Billion is a global epidemic???

Sounds more like a drop in the bucket to me.

[hologram5]

WOW, for once I have to agree with you. This is no worse than that of the "normal" flu that goes around every year at this time.

[credibility2]

A pandemic is medically an epidemic of the same disease or infection covering a wide geographical area, like the world. Numbers haven't anything to do with it. There are a lot more infected with the swine flu than is being reported. We're only hearing about the numbers of known deaths.

[NatReader]

And how many died from the regular flu in the same time frame? Certainly more than 5000 given that 36,000 die every year from the every day run of the mill flu....

[DaVicar8]

"36,000 die every year from the every day run of the mill flu...."


Thanks for the sanity check, Nat.