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CDC: Swine flu has sickened 22 million in 6 months |
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WorriedMom
V.I.P. Member Joined: January 23 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 39 |
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Posted: November 12 2009 at 1:23pm |
http://news.aol.com/article/cdc-swine-flu-has-sickened-22-million-in/745559?icid=sphere_newsaol_inpage
WASHINGTON -Swine flu has
sickened about 22 million Americans since April and killed nearly 4,000,
including 540 children, say startling federal estimates released Thursday.
The figures — a quadrupling of
previous death estimates — don't mean swine flu suddenly has worsened, and most
cases still don't require a doctor's care. Instead, the numbers are a
long-awaited better attempt to quantify the new flu's true toll.
"I am expecting all of these
numbers, unfortunately, to continue to rise," said Dr. Anne Schu****** of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We have a long flu season ahead of
us."
And tight supplies of vaccine
to combat the illness continue: Not quite 42 million doses are currently
available, a few million less than CDC had predicted last week.
A new Associated Press-GfK poll
shows nearly one in six parents has gotten at least some of their children
vaccinated against swine flu since inoculations began last month. Another 14
percent of parents sought vaccine, but couldn't find any.
Only about 30 percent of
children routinely get flu vaccinations during a normal winter. That even this
many have gotten vaccinated against the new flu that scientists call the 2009
H1N1 strain despite the shortage suggests CDC's target-the-young message has
gotten through.
But three times as many adults
have tried and failed to find vaccine for themselves as have succeeded.
"I know they're trying their
hardest," Joy McGavin of Pittston, Pa., said of the CDC's vaccine efforts. She
hasn't yet found vaccine for her three children despite a persistent hunt — even
though she and her youngest child are at extra risk because of chronic
illnesses.
"But it is kind of frustrating,
being as my children's school already shut down" because of a big outbreak,
McGavin said.
And interest among the young
adults who also are at high risk is waning fast, found the AP-GfK poll of 1,006
adults nationwide.
Thursday, Schu****** again urged
patience in seeking vaccine.
"It's a marathon and not a
sprint," she said. "More vaccine is being ordered and delivered and used every
day."
Until now, the CDC has
conservatively estimated more than 1,000 deaths and "many millions" of new H1N1
infections. The agency was devoting more time to battling the pandemic than to
counting it, and earlier figures were based on laboratory-confirmed cases even
as doctors largely quit using flu tests months ago — and experts knew that
deaths from things like the bacterial pneumonia that often follows flu were
being missed.
Thursday's report attempts to
calculate the first six months of the new H1N1 strain's spread, from April
through mid-October. The CDC said:
_Some 98,000 people have been
hospitalized from this new flu or its complications, including 36,000 children,
53,000 adults younger than 65 and 9,000 older adults.
_Deaths could range from a low
of 2,500 to as many as 6,100, depending on how the data's analyzed.
_Some 8 million children have
become ill, 12 million adults younger than 65 and 2 million older adults.
The estimate of child deaths
may seem especially surprising, considering the CDC's conservative count of
lab-confirmed deaths a week ago was 129.
"We don't think things have
changed from last week to this week," Schu****** stressed, explaining the
importance of looking beyond those lab counts. It's "a better estimate for the
big picture of what's out there."
The question now is what
effect those estimates will have on a public that largely views swine flu as not
that big a threat.
The AP-GfK poll, conducted
last weekend, found just 23 percent of responders — and 27 percent of parents —
were very likely to keep seeking vaccine.
Stephanie Hannon of Douglas,
Mass., decided to get a swine flu vaccine for just one of her three children,
the one at extra risk because of asthma. She's concerned that the swine flu
vaccine hasn't been studied long enough to justify for her less-at-risk
youngsters.
"Only because of my other
daughter's condition, I felt like I didn't have a choice," she said. "You never
know if you make the right decision."
Swine flu targets young
adults, too, yet just 16 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds were very likely to seek
vaccine, down from 34 percent in September.
The AP-GfK Poll was conducted
November 5-9 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media. It involved landline and
cell phone interviews with 1,006 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling
error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
—
AP Polling Director Trevor
Thompson contributed to this report. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All
rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
2009-11-12 16:11:07 |
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~Sandra~
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Technologist
Admin Group Joined: May 05 2009 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 1192 |
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22 million and 4,000 dead = .02% CFR
By these numbers the odds of any one person dying in America have been. 1:75,000. This number will increase. I think 40-50 million already caught it but based on 22 million. If you catch the Swine flu "on average" your chances of dying are 1:5,000 |
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Medclinician
V.I.P. Member Valued Member Since 2006 Joined: July 08 2009 Status: Offline Points: 23322 |
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Your numbers are wrong. Med |
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Technologist
Admin Group Joined: May 05 2009 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 1192 |
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Thanks Med. If we want accuracy I just won't round the numbers anymore. I'll use the "exact" numbers given by Government agencies like the CDC instead. 304,059,724 US Population. 3,900 Deaths Percentage of people in the US that have died from the Swine Flu = .00128264275% or 1:77,964 Swine Flu CFR .01772727273% An estimated 8 million children under age 18 have been infected by the swine flu. An estimated 98,000 Americans have been hospitalized by the swine flu, including 36,000 children. Among adults, there have been 12 million cases on infection, 53,000 hospitalizations and 2,900 deaths. Among those 65 and older, there have been 2 million infections, 9,000 hospitalizations and 440 deaths. http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/11/12/22-million-sickened-by-swine-flu-in-6-months.html |
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4=laro
Valued Member Joined: April 18 2007 Status: Offline Points: 731 |
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Recently the gov gave out the number of jobs created with the presidents stimulus package. Their numbers as it turns out are just numbers and they are so out of wack that no one can believe them. As reported in the last few days, the numbers are a fragment of someones imagination.
I have a feeling your reported numbers on the amount of people who contacted the H1N1 and number of people who died from it are also, just numbers and should be taken with a grain of salt. It is time to wake up and start asking for proof and not take everything as the absolute truth just because it is from a .gov source. |
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Technologist
Admin Group Joined: May 05 2009 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 1192 |
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This Pandemic is global so do you think every Government in the World is covering this up? When was the last time that all nations agreed on anything? One thing they all agree on is that the fatality ratio is very low for a Pandemic. |
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4=laro
Valued Member Joined: April 18 2007 Status: Offline Points: 731 |
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I think you should start to question the numbers since they are made up numbers.
My proof that the .gov sites are lieing was given with the made up numbers of jobs created. |
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