What is worse than influenza?

Answer 1

So far, the "seasonal influenza" does seem to be worse than the swine flu. See also related questions below.

The Swine Flu is a new type of Influenza. "Flu" is just a shortened form of the word Influenza. The full name of the virus that causes what has been called the 2009 Swine Flu is Influenza Type A, Novel H1N1 Virus (A-H1N1/09).

Other strains of flu circulate each year and are referred to as the "seasonal flu". (Some people call it the "regular flu"). For some reason, each year there are usually one or more predominate strains of influenza that are spreading across the globe . It is not fully understood why there is a "flu season" like this, it is probably related to temperatures and humidity levels that are more conducive to viral replication. Each year in the US and Northern Hemisphere starting in the late fall and continuing through winter and into early spring, the flu season occurs and the "seasonal influenza" virus spreads. In the Southern Hemisphere, it occurs at the opposite time of year. Hotter weather seems to help cause the flu to fade out; but flu is not exclusive to the cooler time of year, however is the most prominent during the cold seasons.

Comparison between mortality rates of swine flu and seasonal flu in the US:

Swine Flu:

3 March 2010 -- As of 12 February 2010, According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is estimated* that since the beginning of the pandemic, the US has had approximately 57 million cases of A-H1N1/09 Pandemic Swine Flu and approximately 11,690 resulting deaths. Based upon this, an estimate of the mortality rate in the US from the pandemic is 0.02%.

Seasonal Flu:

In comparison, the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) have estimated that with seasonal flu, "we see over 30 million cases in the United States. We see 200,000 hospitalizations and, on average, 36,000 deaths." (During the entire fall and winter flu season.) Based upon this, the average mortality rate of seasonal flu in the US would be 0.12 %.

*The CDC stopped keeping track a long time ago of how many cases of H1N1 there were on an ongoing basis, due to incomplete counts in the reports. Most cases that are not complicated or requiring medical care aren't reported to the health departments and, of those, only a small number have had confirmation by laboratory testing. However, deaths from this infection have been being reported better and more have been confirmed, those numbers are more accurate. The CDC has developed a method of estimation of total counts based on the numbers of reported cases and deaths.

The Demographics of the people who catch the different types of flu does vary somewhat with fewer people in the "elderly" age group (over 65) contracting the Novel H1N1.

Answer 2

There are many diseases worse than influenza, although it is estimated that in the US alone, 36,000 people die each year due to seasonal influenza. Worse Infectious Diseases range from mononucleosis, which feels something like the flu but takes weeks to months to get over, to Marburg and Ebola virus, which usually leave you dying in a puddle of your own blood in about a week.