Global increase in flu fatalities
SOME 646 000 PEOPLE DIE EVERY YEAR The elderly and those in sub-Saharan Africa have the highest rates of mortality.
As many as 646 000 people are dying globally from seasonal influenza each year, US health officials have said – a rise from earlier assessments of the disease’s death toll.
Global death rates from seasonal influenza are likely between 291 000 and 646 000 people each year, depending on the severity of the circulating flu strain, they said.
That is up from a prior estimate range of 250 000 to 500 000 deaths, according to officials from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published in the medical journal The Lancet on Wednesday.
The CDC did not give reasons for the hike in estimates but said the study by it and global health partners was based on data from a larger, more diverse sample of countries than previously. It excludes deaths during flu pandemics and from conditions exacerbated by the flu, such as heart disease.
“These findings remind us of the seriousness of flu and that flu prevention should really be a global priority,” said Dr Joe Bresee, associate director for global health at the CDC’s influenza division and a co-author of the study.
The greatest flu mortality burden falls on the world’s poorest regions and among older adults. People aged 75 and older and those living in sub-Saharan Africa had the highest rates of flu-associated respiratory deaths, the study found.
Eastern Mediterranean and southeast Asian countries had slightly lower but still high rates of flu-associated respiratory deaths.
Dr Peter Salama, executive director of the World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies Programme, said the findings “highlight the importance of influenza prevention for seasonal epidemics, as well as preparedness for pandemics”.
United States officials are predicting an especially challenging 2017-18 flu season, which is just getting under way in the northern hemisphere.
Flu cases in Australia during the 2017 southern hemisphere winter resulted in record-high numbers of lab-confirmed hospitalisations and deaths. –