Infection fatality risk of the pandemic A(H1N1)2009 virus in Hong Kong.

ABSTRACT: One measure of the severity of a pandemic influenza outbreak at the individual level is the risk of death among people infected by the new virus. However, there are complications in estimating both the numerator and denominator. Regarding the numerator, statistical estimates of the excess deaths associated with influenza virus infections tend to exceed the number of deaths associated with laboratory-confirmed infection. Regarding the denominator, few infections are laboratory confirmed, while differences in case definitions and approaches to case ascertainment can lead to wide variation in case fatality risk estimates. Serological surveillance can be used to estimate the cumulative incidence of infection as a denominator that is more comparable across studies. We estimated that the first w

SUBMITTER: Wong JY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3658096 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature