WASHINGTON – H1N1 flu is thought to have killed nearly 4,000 people in the United States, including more than 500 children, health officials said after a new counting method yielded an estimate six times higher than the last.
The new system is based on more precise figures provided by 10 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. The previous estimated death toll from H1N1 was 672.
While still imprecise, the new numbers provide ‘a bigger picture of what has been going on in the first six months of the pandemic’, Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told a press conference.
She said previous estimates were based on ‘laboratory confirmed cases of hospitalisation and death, potentially giving an incomplete picture of the story of this pandemic’.
According to the new estimates, the total deaths since the swine flu virus first appeared in April total about 3,900, the CDC said, noting that figures were rounded to the nearest 10. The CDC also posted the new set of figures on its website. The new swine-flu death toll for children under 18 years of age is 540, four times higher than the previous estimate.
Still considered the tip of the iceberg compared to the real, full extent of the swine-flu pandemic, the new estimates are based on more precise data provided by hospitals in 10 US states, Dr Schuchat said. Those figures were extrapolated to the national level, she added. — AFP
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