2009 H1N1 pandemic killed 10 times more people than initially reported

The 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" epidemic killed up to 203,000 people across the globe - a death toll 10 times greater than initially estimated by the World Health Organization, researchers say.

In a study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine, epidemiologists used data on respiratory deaths in 20 nations to calculate a global mortality rate for the pandemic.

Prior to this research, the WHO counted just 18,631 lab-confirmed cases of H1N1, a viral infection of the airways.

"This study confirms that the H1N1 virus killed many more people globally than originally believed," read a statement from Lone Simonsen, a research professor in the Department of Global Health at George Washington University.

"We also found that the mortality burden of this pandemic fell most heavily on younger people and those living in certain parts of the Americas," Simonsen said.

The 2009 pandemic was far from the worst such outbreak. In 1918, the Spanish influenza pandemic killed 50 million people, roughly 2 percent of the world population at that time.

From Stuff