H1N1 Swine Flu Projection July 2009

Strange... a lot of (WHO) swine flu talk and information on the Internet, but no worldwide
projections or estimates....

The risk of underestimating the so called H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus is not unthinkable.

Worldwide Projection H1N1 Virus

You don't have to be an actuary or mathematician to make a sound projection of the number of
people that will be infected (or die) within the next months. All it takes is 'basic high school' and a
common spreadsheet.

Let's make a simple worldwide projection of the expected cases (infections) based upon the
WolframAlpha data-set:

The purple line illustrates the development of the number of infections worldwide, the dotted purple
line illustrates the expected projected development until the end of july 2009.

With one view it's clear is that during the next months the H1N1 virus spread will be enormous. By
the end of July 2009 the number of worldwide infections will rise to almost 0.5 million.The spread
of the virus will probably be enforced by the fact that a lot of people have their holidays and
therefore travel by plane or bus.

As one would aspect, the development of the number of infections is exponential. The (natural)
logarithm of the expected cases (dashed red line) is almost a linear curve. You may find more
information of data and projections in the next XLS spreadsheet.
Big Explosion
If no additional prevention actions will be taken, a big explosion of the virus starts just after the
holiday period in 2009.

It is questionable if the planned vaccinations for October or later will be in time.Perhaps it's better
to have a vaccination, or take Tamiflu, than a vacation in July or August.

Global Infection
If no adequate rigid measures will be taken within the next months, the future of humanity could be
serious at stake:

Unrestrained exponential growth on

basis of the the current growth-path, will
lead to a more or less complete global
infection by the end of January 2010.

By then ruffly 36 million people

worldwide, will have died.

If the mortality rate doesn't stabilize (as

it currently appears) at 0.45% of the
infected people, the effects could be
worse.

As the famous 'Wheat and chessboard problem' already illustrated, exponential growth is a
dangerous underestimated killer. It's just like a tsunami: when you notice it, it's too late to act.

Let's trust governments are not underestimating this Swine virus threat. Happy holidays!

Related Links:
- World Population Density
- U.S. Death rates influenza virus 1918 © Joshua Maggid 2009