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Article: A wicked strain: the projected number of U.S. deaths as a result of an influenza pandemic is more than 1.7 million over an 18-month period. Nearly half of those victims will be between the ages of 15 and 44. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate the economic impact to the United States at $71.3 billion to $166.5 billion.(SPECIAL REPORT: CATASTROPHIC RISKS)
- Article from:
- Risk & Insurance
- Article date:
- April 15, 2005
- Author:
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Since 1580, there have been 31 instances where new influenza viruses have emerged from their natural reservoir--wild aquatic birds--and through genetic reassortment in intermediary hosts such as pigs, have "jumped" to human populations with marked increases in human deaths. This change in ability to kill humans is related to a lack of any protective immunity and genetic factors of the virus. The end result in an increase in the number of deaths in healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 30.
In the last century, the "Spanish flu" pandemic of 1918-1919 killed 50 million to 100 million people. Of those, about 500,000 were in the United States. Although the ...