We Will Get Through This Flu Epidemic [Edition 2]

Summary

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THE official prediction that British swine flu deaths could reach 65,000 will be a jolt to the public consciousness. So far 29 people have died and more than 650 are in hospital with the disease. London is particularly hard hit, with 10 deaths and most of the nation's hotspots for infection, with Tower Hamlets especially badly hit. Yet the best advice remains to keep calm.

Certainly the figure for predicted deaths is worrying -- more than 10 times the average number of extra deaths caused by seasonal flu, and larger than any death toll since the 1918-1919 Spanish flu epidemic. It is also particularly worrying that the disease is attacking children most. But the 65,000 figure is purely a mathematical extrapolation from current infection rates, and the upper end of a range, the lower end of which is 21,000, in line with seasonal flu epidemics like that of winter 1999/2000. Thus far the Government has moved quickly: stocks of the antiviral drug Tamiflu are high, and from the end of next week a new pandemic flu service will be available by phone or internet.

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We Will Get Through This Flu Epidemic [Edition 2]

The service will dispense Tamiflu prescriptio...

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