How many people died from ordinary flu last year in the UK?

[MsMargotBeauregarde]

I've been trying to identify this figure and I can't.

I'm not scaremongering. I expect it to be a reassurance that what's predicted is not so very different from any other year.

a normal year is 4,000 I think

but certain years are really bad e.g. 89-90 it was 30,000

I think 98? it was 12,000

I don't know why I have this crap in my head

that is JUSt this country btw

That agrees with this I just googled:
According to the Chief Medical Officer's publication 'Explaining Pandemic Flu'(1 March 2005):

"Ordinary flu occurs every year during the winter months in the UK. It affects 10-15% of the UK population, causing around 12,000 deaths every year." [1]

On the other hand according to another official publication 'Summary of flu immunisation policy' (3 October 2004):

"Even during a winter where the incidence of flu is low, 3-4000 deaths may be attributed to 'flu; this can rise much higher in epidemic years, for example there were an estimated 13,000 deaths in 1993 which were attributable to 'flu and 29,000 in 1989/90." [2]

I've been wondering the same thing, I'm not clear on why (or if) swine flu is inherently more dangerous than any other type of flu.

I don't think it is, is it? It's just new and could spread quicker, affecting more people.

I don't think it is inherently more dangerous from what I've been reading/listening to, I think the concern is that it's a completely new strain so all a bit unknown as to how it will spread, who it will affect and how badly.

The medical experts are expecting most people affected by it not to be that sick and recover quickly at home, but it's the vulnerable they are concerned about it.

At least that's my understanding . . . .

On the BBC news front page now, the second subheading says that preliminary analysis shows the strain to be mild. But CARRY ON PANICKING, because they're not sure yet and it might really be terribly, terribly and of course it could mutate at any time....

Hate to say it, but it does make a change from endless news about the recession

That's very interesting ..

I do feel somewhat reassured.

i'm sure the WHO man at the news conference said that GLOBALLY 40,000 die each year of normal flu strains. so no need to fret if we lose a couple of thousand to this one. or something.

Oops. 'Terribly, terribly severe'. It's hard not to get worried when you keep overhearing people talking about getting their stash of Tamiflu from whatever source they have.

"but it's the vulnerable they are concerned about "

so no different to any other illness then really - flu strain or not - it's always the vulnerable that are most at risk.

Although I have decided that if I see a pig fly past the window I'm not going to assume that something unbelievable has happened - I'm going to think it's got a really bad cough and run for my life

I think that the concern is that in Mexico the majority of deaths have not been among the most vulnerable as you would expect from normal flu. Instead, a very high number of deaths have been previously healthy adults between the ages of 25 and 45. The fear is that with a new strain of flu like this, the immune response in someone whose system is functioning well could be as dangerous as the actual flu symptoms.

Half a million worldwide last year, I think. And several thousands in the UK.

I think a lot of the fear is also that a pandemic is overdue, and this virus has a mix of bird/pig/human genetic material which makes it more of a wild card....and the unknown is scarier than the known.

I also think we can expect more disruption from panic than we can from the 'flu, at least this time around

It sounds to me like half of Mexico has had it though. The deaths are not proven anyway - the 150 people might have died of swine fever .

Funny morningpaper, DH was just reminiscing about the winter of 1998 - he said he's never seen deaths like it (he was a junior doctor then). He said he had to go down to the mortuary a lot to do death certificates and the bodies were all over the floor. Still, he made a packet in ash cash

Elibean - exactly only 13 confirmed deaths worldwide so far.

Highlander, lol at 'ash cash' - I've heard about that before. Such a weird idea - why do they get incentives for cremation?!

I read global flu deaths in an ordinary year are anything from 250,000 to 500,000. This is going to have to kill an awful lot of people to be anywhere near as interesting as the media are trying to make out.

Ash cash is the extra money for signing death certificates, isn't it?

I have read that up to 40,000 Americans die each year from ordinary flu (see link). I think this flu is very contagious but it does not sound worse than regular flu. Put it this way, the first person in the UK to catch it from another person was said to have started feeling ill last weekend and today he was interviewed by phone on Sky News. I could not have managed that 5 days after going down with flu - I'd still be in bed feeling crappy and not talking.

Also, I suspect that the system for reporting deaths in Mexico might not be exactly precise. Who knows how many of the alleged swine flu victims actually died of swine flu, and of those, how many were immunosuppressed, elderly, failed to see their doctor etc? I think this is just a really good story ATM.

Profiterole, for some bizarre reason doctors are paid about £70 to release a body for cremation - they get nothing for burial. V controversial and bizarre.

I think it's because once the body is cremated, nothing can be done about digging it back up and checking a death really was what the doc said - so the doc is taking a risk and a responsibility signing it off.

Naturally, I don't know what is going to happen with swine flu in this country. Am no kind of expert, and the experts don't seem to know much more than me, either!

But I do believe the end of the world will be caused by a virus. Not global warming or nuclear war or meteor strike.

Its those invisible little bugs that are gonna get us in the end ...

Oh woe ... oh doom ... etc