Whats the mortality rate on swine flu?
It’s difficult to assess the death rate, at least at this point. In Mexico, about 150 people have died out of 1,600 cases reported. However, this is probably a gross overestimate of the mortality rate, because reporting is subject to bias- more severe, respiatory failure-inducing cases are more likely to be thoroughly investigated, and thus are more likely to be reported to public health authorities. Limited access to doctors and to diagnostic tests in economically disadvantaged areas of Mexico may also lead to underreporting. Many people with a mild, self-limited illness due to swine flu may not visit a physician and are never diagnosed- thus these people are excluded from statistics. The cases in the US have typically been much milder than those reported in Mexico, for reasons that are unclear to this point.
