Swine flu kills more children than leukaemia

Those from Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities, and with pre-existing conditions – especially neurological diseases such as cerebral palsy – were hardest hit. A fifth of the young people who died were previously healthy, however.

The swine flu death toll for children was greater than that caused each year by leukaemia. Such a high death rate for a single infectious disease was last seen in 2001 during an outbreak of meningitis.

Doctors said the evidence suggested all children should be vaccinated against swine flu, especially those in high-risk groups.

The findings, from an investigation into the impact of swine flu on children and teenagers aged 18 and under, were published today in an early online edition of The Lancet medical journal.

Researchers led by Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, former Chief Medical Officer for England, collected data over a nine-month period between June 26, 2009, and March 22, 2010.

Sir Liam now chairs the National Patient Safety Agency, a soon-to-be abolished Government quango dedicated to improving patient care.

The study found found overall childhood mortality for H1N1 was six deaths per million. The highest death rate of 14 per million was for children aged less than a year old.

Mortality rates were much higher for Bangladeshi children (47 deaths per million population) and Pakistani children (36 deaths per million) than for white English children (four deaths per million).

Overall, 64 per cent of children were vaccinated with Tamiflu but only seven received the drug within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms and just three before admission to hospital.

Two children who died received the vaccine too late for it to be effective.