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" There have been 26 deaths out of every 100,000 cases of swine flu in England, new figures have revealed. The authors of the study claim the figures represent the &amp;#039;first influenza pandemic of the 21st century&amp;#039;. However, they claim the figures also show swine flu is considerably less lethal than originally feared. Following the announcement of the pandemic in June 2009 by the Department of Health, all primary care trusts and acute hospitals were urged to collate data on individuals who were believed to have died from swine flu. Yesterday&amp;#039;s study is the first analysis of this material and includes all known deaths in England from swine flu up until November 8th. The research revealed that two-thirds of the patients who died from swine flu would now be eligible for the government&amp;#039;s vaccination scheme. Earlier this week it was announced that children aged between six months and five years are next in line to receive the vaccine. The research found that those over the age of 65 had less chance of contracting swine flu but were more likely to die if they caught it. The authors said this may be because older people were less likely to become infected with swine flu because they had already been exposed to similar strains and that &amp;#039;without this previous exposure, the pandemic might have caused many more deaths in this age group&amp;#039;. Compared to the three influenza pandemics of the 20th century, swine flu, with its fatality rate of 0.026 per cent, appears relatively mild. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic had a rate of two to three per cent, while the subsequent flu pandemics in 1957-8 and 1967-8 had rates of around 0.2 per cent. Commenting, chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: &amp;#039;Viewed statistically, mortality in this pandemic compares favourably with 20th century influenza pandemics. &amp;#039;A lower population impact than previous pandemics, however, is not a justification for public health inaction. Our data support the priority vaccination of high risk groups.&amp;#039; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a18947/swine-flu-less-lethal-than-expected/>