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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 08, 2003

About 47,000 Americans Die Each Year from Flu

About 47,000 Americans, thousands more than previously thought, die each year from flu and another common respiratory virus called RSV, a study shows.


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About 47,000 Americans, thousands more than previously thought, die each year from flu and another common respiratory virus called RSV, a study shows.

As the elderly population increases, the death toll from these two illnesses could soar, experts fear.

Statistical analyses by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that during the 1990s, flu killed an average of 36,000 people each year, up from previous estimates of 20,000.

That's just an average, CDC flu expert Keiji Fukuda says. Deaths vary dramatically from year to year, from very few to as many as 50,000 to 70,000, he says.

In addition, researchers say, 11,000 people, about 78% of them 65 and older, die each year from respiratory syncytial virus, RSV. It's a disease once thought to affect children primarily.

By contrast, heart disease kills about 700,000 annually and cancer more than half a million. Last year's West Nile virus epidemic killed 246.

Fukuda, co-author of the report in Tuesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, says the main reason for the increase in flu deaths is the growth of the elderly population. For reasons not clearly understood, older people's immune systems are less able to withstand viral attack, and the flu vaccine is less effective in preventing infection than it is in younger people.

About 90% of those who die of flu and its complications are 65 or older.

Source: Agencies




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