Number of Deaths by Viruses
How many deaths have there been from this particular bird flu virus? How many from the 1918 pandemic? How many from AIDS?
Hoda Hai writes: Comparing death rates for certain diseases helps us remember what to focus on. There have been 218 cases of the bird flu virus in parts of Asia and the Middle East with a total of 124 deaths. Most health officials believe that there is a one in two chance of living after being infected with the bird flu. Comparing this to the numbers for the 1918 pandemic helps us put things into perspective. Worldwide, nearly 50 million people died with a mortality rate of 2.5% and 1/3 of the population of the world being infected with the virus. Lastly, AIDS has found itself in the pandemic status. Since 1981 (the year it was discovered), 25 million people have died from AIDS around the world. More than 500,000 Americans have been infected and died as a result of this.
Shannon Holfoth, Rachel Francis, Caitlin Moreland, Teresa Castiglione, and Katie VanUden write: There have been 218 cases of this virus in parts of Asia and the Middle East and a total of 124 deaths. Health officials believe the mortality rate of the bird flu virus is approximately 50%.
Data on the total number of deaths world wide from the 1918 pandemic varies, but most estimates are at 50 million deaths. The fatality rate was pegged at 2.5% and it is estimated that 1/3 of the world’s population was infected with the virus.
Since 1981, 25 million people have died from AIDS worldwide. More then 500,000 Americans have fallen victim to AIDS since 1981 (the year at which it was first discovered in the US)
Daniel Szyprowski writes: At this time, 115 have died from the bird flu virus. In the 1918 outbreak of the Spanish flu, an estimated 50 million to 100 million people were killed worldwide.
AIDS has killed approximately 25 million people since 1981.
Candace Morrison writes: The spread of AIDS is still not completely understood. It is known that the first large number of known, confirmed cases appeared in the
US sometime in the early 1980s, more specifically 1981. There have
been reports of AIDS deaths in Africa from as far back as 1959. HIV or
Human Immunodeficiency Virus is to be a derivative of Simian
Immunodeficiency Virus. Just how HIV managed to jump species is again
not known. There are several scenarios as to how the virus spread
globally. Travel is one such path, as well as blood transfusions and
hemophilic treatments known as Factor VIII (avert). Avian Flu, much
like HIV/AIDS, is a virus that typically occurs in an animal host
capable of transmitting the virus to a human host. Unlike the
mysterious origins of AIDS, researches know certain routes of
transmittance the H5N1 virus. People who handle infected bird
carcasses or work with infected birds on a daily basis run a high risk
of infection. AIDS and the avian flu again differ in the way in that
the bird flu has not yet been confirmed as an infectious agent capable
of spreading from human to human.