How Serious Are Influenza Epidemics?
Influenza can be deadly. The worst epidemic occurred in 1918 and killed more than half a million Americans and between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide. Two later epidemics, in 1957 and 1968, killed 70,000 and 34,000 Americans, respectively. In the past 20 years in the United States, there have been 11 flu epidemics that have killed more than 20,000 people a year. Children and the elderly are most at risk. In most epidemics, 90 percent of the people who die are older than 65 years and the remaining deaths are largely among children under 5 years. People between the ages of 5 and 65 have a lower risk of death from most types of influenza.
