August 26th, 2009 by MWilhelm

A recently released report has provided new insights into the swine flu pandemic, showing that young adults account for more than half of H1N1-related deaths, rather than children or elderly people, as previously assumed.

In a study issued by the European Center for Disease Prevention’s Eurosurveillance, researchers studied 574 swine flu-related deaths occurring in 28 countries to mid-July.

“Most deaths (51 percent) occurred in the age group of 20-to-49 year-olds, but there is considerable variation depending on country or continent,” the researchers reported.

The study also noted that pre-existing medical conditions, such as diabetes or obesity, contributed to a heightened risk of fatality.

Overall, the study found that about six people of every 1,000 infected die from the virus, which is about two to three times the rate of seasonal flu, yet still far below the rate of the 1918 pandemic.

The report noted that just 12 percent of those who died from the virus up to mid-July were aged 60 or older.

By contrast, more than 90 percent of deaths attributed to seasonal flu occur among the elderly population aged 65 or older, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“The elderly seem to be protected from infection to some extent, perhaps due to previous exposure to similar strains,” researchers wrote in the Eurosurveillance report.

“When infection does occur, however, the percentage of deaths in elderly cases seems to be higher that in others.”

Additionally, the study does back up the findings of previous studies, which show that the virus appears to be especially lethal among pregnant women.

On Tuesday, the European Union stated that pregnant women should get priority in receiving soon-to-come vaccinations for the H1N1 virus.

“Evaluating CFR (case-fatality ratio) during a pandemic is a hazardous exercise. Aside from the issue of whether or not a death has been caused by the influenza infection, cases tend to be detected initially among severely ill patients with a higher probability of dying,” researchers said.

In another study published in the BMJ, researchers at the University of Hong Kong surveyed health care workers from January to May and found that only 48 percent said they would be willing to be vaccinated for the swine flu. Additionally, the survey found that just 35 percent of health workers said they would be willing to be vaccinated for bird flu.

Paul Chan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one of the study authors, said the results were likely to be the same among health workers in other parts of the world.

WHO recommends that health workers in all countries should be vaccinated for the H1N1 virus.

“A good argument can be made that health workers have an ethical obligation to be vaccinated, not to protect themselves, but to protect their patients,” George Annas, a bioethics expert at Boston University, told the Associated Press.

“But if they don’t believe that vaccine to be safe and effective, it will be a hard sell.”