CDC: 1 in 6 Americans Have Had H1N1 Flu

(CBS/ AP)  Health officials now estimate that H1N1 flu has sickened nearly 50 million Americans and killed nearly 10,000.

The new estimates mean about 1 in 6 Americans have had the illness. The figures were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.

The CDC also estimates that 200,000 people have been hospitalized since the virus was first identified in April though mid-November. That's the same amount that occurs normally in an entire flu season.

The CDC said Nov. 30 that H1N1 flu (also known as swine flu) infections seem to be dropping though the number of children who died with the illness was higher.

Special Report: H1N1 Virus

Previously, the CDC estimated that about 22 million people came down with H1N1 from April to mid-October, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook. In the space of four weeks, that number jumped to 47 million, the vast majority under age 65.

Children and young adults have been one of the hardest-hit groups. An estimated 1,100 children have died from H1N1.

"Many times more children and younger adults, unfortunately, have been hospitalized or killed by H1N1 influenza than occurs during a regular flu season," said CDC Director Tom Frieden.

In a typical flu season, about 20,000 children are hospitalized. Already in the first seven months of the H1N1 outbreak, 71,000 have been hospitalized, LaPook reports.

The H1N1 flu pandemic has so far hit in two waves in the United States: First in the spring, then a larger wave that started in the late summer.

In late October, 48 states reported widespread flu activity. Increasingly, that appears to have been the peak of the second wave. Since then, fewer states have been reporting widespread cases, and the number of school closings due to swine flu has at times dropped to zero.

Since November, new infections seem to be receding, but the CDC is urging people not to forget about immunization. Last month at the Dallas County Health Department, 3,000 people poured in daily for vaccine. That's now down to a trickle.

Dr. John Carlo is worried the virus isn't done yet.

"We're really going to be concerned about what the rest of the winter is going to be like," Carlo told LaPook. "We have to be ready for what's going to happen in February and March."

CDC officials also said Thursday that American Indians and Alaska Natives have died from swine flu at a rate four times greater than other Americans.

In a study of swine flu deaths in 12 states, researchers found that 42 American Indians and Alaska Natives in those states died of swine flu or its complications. That was a rate of nearly 4 out of every 100,000 people in that group.

American Indians and Alaska Natives have higher rates of diabetes, asthma and other conditions that make them more vulnerable. The study is being published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

[patrons99]

The problem with mass vaccination programs against H1N1, specifically, may be related to problems shared by vaccination programs, in general. The work of Dr Andrew Moulden has been marginalized by the medical establishment. Seemingly, all of the news media, global regulatory bodies, and mainstream medical establishment, are ?betting our lives? that he?s wrong.

http://vactruth.com/2009/07/21/dr-andrew-moulden-interview-what-you-were-never-told-about-vaccines/

Several excerpts from the aforementioned link, include:

Ischemic strokes and brain damages from vaccinations end vascular ministrokes, invisible to conventional neuroimaging, but measurable in a before/after vaccination protocol.

These microscopic strokes are happening to the brain and body in immediate and delayed, waxing and waning, acute and chronic ways. This is receiving a plethora of clinical labels. In basic physiology, the base cause is common across the board.

The public gets it. The chiropractors embrace it. The medical Doctors, including pediatric neurologists, are stunned by it. The pharmaceutical and organized medicine cartels must deny it. The philosophy is ?if they cannot deny the message, then they will discredit the messenger.? This is simply how the system works.

It is the act of repeat vaccinations, properly spaced apart that is creating one part of the problem. It is the aluminum that is creating a second part of the problem. ALL other foreign substances in vaccines are creating a third part of the problem, like adding fuel to a fire. One does not need to be directly vaccinated to be vaccine injured.

[native_warrior_USMC]

I had it, my wife had it, my 16 months old daughter had it, and four nieces and nephews all under 5 years old had it. It was no worse than any other flu/bug. H1N1 is the biggest scam since global warming.

[MegaProcrastination]

I love reading the comments on these articles because they seem to me way more telling than anything that is reported.

I've had one relative that I know of who has had H1N1. She said it was no worse than any kick-you-in-the-hind-end flu bug we ever ran into when we were kids. Don't get me wrong, she was sick, even missed nearly a week of work (which is rare for her) but she said it wasn't really a huge deal.

Another relative had surgery recently and since she's been back and forth between home and hospital for follow-up and therapy, she has talked to quite a few of the health workers at the hospital. They said that every single case they had seen where someone ended up hospitalized had been the result of the patient trying to keep going instead of taking time to get over the flu. They would think they were over it, so try to get back to their normal routine and end up with a back-set. Anyone who's ever had one of those knows the end result is way worse than the original sickness and often as not ends up in pneumonia.

It's been my understanding that those of us who were born pre-1970s most likely already had the earlier version of this flu, so if we do catch it again we have at least some immunity against this mutation. That's also what I've heard has been the main reason for more complications with younger people.

As for the CDC, it does seem to enjoy the sound of its own collective voice, doesn't it? Couple that with media wanting to sell news stories and it's a simply sensational match!

[rdm1046]

50,000,000 have had H1N1? BS.

[amulette]

I agree.

[slownewsday--5]

agreed as well.

[stn_sage]

Folks, I wouldn't take anything the CDC says too seriously!

For an entity whose claims should require serious "hard" data to confirm it's claims, they very seldom seem to have ANY AT ALL!

In fact, most of the time, it does nothing but 'speculate or estimate'...leaving one to wonder how many of these people are actually qualified scientists/doctors and have they forgotten what that means?

The only thing they seem to be good at is FEAR MONGERING and 'scaring the tar out of everyone' which is NOT part of their mission statement!

They seem to operate as a public relations arm of the United Nations' World Health Organization and the globalists...which also is NOT part of their mission statement!

Hence, they need to stop what they're doing, and go back to their designated 'raison d'etre'!

[newsterl]

by stn_sage December 10, 2009 6:01 PM EST
Folks, I wouldn't take anything the CDC says too seriously! "

I never do since knowing their sordid sickening history and that of the US Govt, especially in the WW2 era, I do not trust either as far as I can spit.

[ash400]

I"m 67 yrs. old with asthma and I can't get the H1N1 vaccine but if I were 64 I could get it! what's the difference??

Is the government trying to decrease the number of Medicare recipients?

I want to get this shot mainly because I fear the asthma complicating my recovery if I do get the flu.

What are the statistics for people over 65, and those with with respiratory illnesses, with the H1N1 flu.

[Solarrays247]

Why can't you get the H1N1 vaccine? My friend's 85 year-old mother received it in November. I don't understand.

[baileyccc]

What a joke, The CDC is "selling sickness" like Big Pharma. Posted by Baileyccc

[bubbadubba]

I had it, it was not even as bad as a mild cold.
What a joke.