How many dead in replay of 1918 flu?
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A flu virus as deadly as the one that caused the 1918 Spanish flu could kill as many as 81 million people worldwide if it struck today, a new study estimated.
By applying historical death rates to modern population data, the researchers calculated a death toll of 51 million to 81 million, with a median estimate of 62 million. The study, published in the journal Lancet, estimates that 96% of the deaths would occur in the developing world. The 1918 outbreak killed at least 40 million people worldwide.
