1918 flu pandemic killed 2.64 mln in Europe: study

PARIS (AFP) — The 1918-19 pandemic of "Spanish flu" killed around 2.64 million Europeans, according to a French study, which says that despite its name, the pathogen probably originated outside Europe.

Writing in the latest issue of the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, the investigators believe the virus killed 1.1 percent of the European population at the time.

Overall deaths increased by 86 percent when the virus went on the rampage, says the study, which is based on mortality figures in 14 countries amounting to roughly three-quarters of the European population in 1918-19.

But the toll varied enormously from country to country, according to the team from the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm).

Excess mortality rates in the 14 countries were highest in Italy, where they were 172 percent above the norm, followed by Bulgaria and Portugal (102 percent), Spain (87 percent), the Netherlands (84 percent), Sweden (74 percent) and Germany (73 percent).

This was followed by Switzerland (69 percent), France (66 percent), Norway (65 percent), Denmark (58 percent) Scotland (57 percent), England and Wales (55 percent) and finally Finland, which had the lowest increase in mortality, of 33 percent above normal rates.

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