So, ten times the number of children, and presumably people in general, caught H1N1 than doctors thought. What this means is that the virus is even less serious than we already thought. In fact, is it in any worse than a really bad cold or normal flu? I think not. And how much money exactly did the pharmaceutical and media industries make off this ridiculously unnecessary public fear? Sex sells, but fear sells more.
H1N1 Attacked More London Youth Than Doctors Found, Study Says – BusinessWeek
Bloomberg
H1N1 Attacked More London Youth Than Doctors Found, Study Says
January 21, 2010, 01:55 AM ESTBy Jason Gale
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) — Ten times as many children in London probably caught swine flu as doctors’ records suggest, researchers found in a study highlighting the role younger people play in spreading the pandemic virus.
Tests for infection-fighting antibodies against the new H1N1 strain on almost 2,000 blood samples showed as many as one in three children caught the virus in the pandemic’s first wave in England, according to a study in the medical journal the Lancet today. The scientists compared blood samples with specimens collected before the pandemic to gauge infection rates, even in people who had no fever, cough or other flu symptoms.
The study found children younger than 15 years were the group most likely to have been infected with swine flu, and that by the time vaccine became available in the U.K. in late October, the potential for mitigating the overall effect of the second wave by immunization was limited.
「Children have an important role in transmission of influenza and would be a key target group for vaccination both for their protection and for the protection of others through herd immunity,」 the authors said.
The study analyzed antibody levels in blood-serum samples collated by a Health Protection Agency program in August- September and in 2008 across England in six age groups, from children younger than 5 years to adults older than 65.
London Epidemic
The rate of infection in London, which had one of the highest rates of H1N1 transmission in England, was 32 percent in children younger than 15 years and 20 percent for 20- to 24- year-olds — 10 times higher than original Health Protection Agency estimates based on clinical surveillance, the researchers said.
The finding supports analysis in July by the World Health Organization in Geneva of data from Canada, Chile, Japan, U.K. and U.S. that showed the median age of those infected with the H1N1 virus is 12 to 17 years.
Before the pandemic, protective levels of H1N1 antibodies ranged from 1.8 percent among infants younger than 5 years to 31 percent in people older than 80 years, according to the Lancet study.
「Individuals born before 1957 might have been exposed to influenza H1 strains circulating in the first half of the 20th century, which are more closely related to current swine-origin 2009 pandemic H1N1 viruses,」 the authors said.