Another victim of swine flu been reported so that’s the fourth death caused by swine flu. In all cases there were other underlying medical conditions.

I understand the media’s need for a good scare story but, just to put things in perspective, why isn’t anyone anywhere pointing out that “ordinary” flu kills people all the time? I can’t find any stats for the UK but flu deaths in the US are approx 20,000 per year. They have six times the population of the UK so our death rate is probably around 3,000 per year (does anyone know the actual figure).

So in the 3-4 months the swine flu scare has been going approx 1000 people in the UK have died of “ordinary” flu. OK it may be a bit less than that given the time of year so lets say 250. Given those stats I’d be far happier catching swine flu than the usual strains.

There’s also the question of whether these 4 people died of swine flu or with swine flu

I was told that “ordinary” flu is more contagious than swine flu..

I was told the first victim had full blown aids as well – that might have had something to to with it?

I was told the first victim had full blown aids as well

Interesting – might explain the reticence of the family to release medical details I suppose.

To be honest I’m rather more surprised by good journalism – particularly on a story like this.