Normal flu kills about 4,000 every year in the UK, and between 500,000 and 1 million worldwide ( source).
In my last post on this topic on June 11, I pointed out that worldwide there had been around 30,000 cases of Swine Flu and only 141 deaths.
The British Press has gone nuts today because someone has died from Swine Flu in Scotland. This is the first fatality outside the American continent, and comes after nearly 1,300 confirmed cases in the UK.
The woman who died had underlying health problems. She had been seriously ill for weeks, and had recently given birth prematurely to a baby (unfortuantely, the baby has also died from other complications). Even without the other problems, she was in a high-risk group for flu.
Obviously, its tragic. But it is just one death involving someone who was already ill and at-risk.
The press is urging us ‘Not To Panic’.