Swine flu: early findings about pandemic potential reported in new study

Swine flu: early findings about pandemic potential reported in new study. Researchers assess emerging pandemic using data until end of April 2009 %0A " - Imperial College London News Release For immediate release - Monday 11 May 2009 Early findings about the emerging pandemic of a new strain of influenza A (H1N1) in Mexico are published today in - Researchers from the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College London, working in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and public health agencies in Mexico, have assessed the epidemic using data to the end of April. Their key findings are as follows: * The data so far is very consistent with what researchers would expect to find in the early stages of a pandemic. The researchers' best estimate is that in Mexico, influenza A (H1N1) is fatal in around 4 in 1,000 cases, which would make this strain of influenza as lethal as the one found in the 1957 pandemic. The researchers stress that healthcare has greatly improved in most countries since 1957 and the world is now better prepared. The epidemic of influenza A (H1N1) is thought to have started in Mexico on 15 February 2009. The data suggests that by the end of April, around 23,000 people were infected with the virus in Mexico and 91 of these died as a result of infection.