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Questions and Answers Regarding Estimating Deaths

from Influenza in the United States

How many people die from flu each year in the United States?

The number of influenza-associated (i.e., flu-related) deaths

varies from year to year because flu seasons often fluctuate

in length and severity. CDC estimated that about 36,000 people

died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the

1990s in the United States

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm

My math says 36000 dead/365 days is 100 dead per

day or 4 per hour. But this in a small country of less

than 360 million this is only 1 in 1000 per year, if

the Lotto only had that good of odds.

Here is another source--à

In the U.S., an estimated 25–50 million cases of the flu

are currently reported each year — leading to 150,000

hospitalizations and 30,000–40,000 deaths yearly. If

these figures were to be estimated incorporating the

rest of the world, there would be an average of

approximately 1 billion cases of flu, around 3–5

million cases of severe illness, and 300,000–500,000

deaths annually.

http://www.flufacts.com/impact/statistics.aspx

So we can conclude 1 in 10 get the flu each year

in this country, but only 1 in 1000 die. But also

we know that 2.55 million die here each year

which is about 4000 per hour going home. This

means we have 1000 times better chance of

perishing by something other than the flu like

the 20+ people that die on the highway each hour.