ATLANTA – U.S. health officials say swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of Americans over the next two years and as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren't successful.
Those estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mean about twice the number of people who usually get sick in a normal flu season would be struck by swine flu. Officials said those projections would drop if a new vaccine is ready and widely available, as U.S. officials expect.
The U.S. may have as many as 160 million doses of swine flu vaccine available sometime in October, and U.S. tests of the new vaccine are to start shortly, federal officials said this week.
The infection estimates are based on a flu pandemic from 1957, which killed nearly 70,000 in the United States but was not as severe as the infamous Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19. But influenza is notoriously hard to predict. The number of deaths and illnesses would drop if the pandemic peters out or if efforts to slow its spread are successful, said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner.
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8 comments:
As Americans, we face immediate, emminant danger from this flu. Therefore, it is imperative that the US congress pass, before the august recess, my healthcare reform plan, and a few billion extra for vaccines. Rest, chicken soup, and OTC meds will do nothing to alleviate this pandemic known as "the flu."
Remember when having the flu meant you don't have to go to school?
H1N1 - swine flu has never been found in any swine! Seriously. You know what that means?
It came from a labratory.
Think about it.
Flu shots are drive up five bucks and sometimes free. No need to rush to threaten a pandemic to pass a bill in congress that will drive us in debt, sheeple.
Swine flue , mother nature is keep-
ing the population in tac.If it ain't this it's AID's , if it ain't that it's something else.
8:45
It is not Mother Nature. That is the problem.
I agree with 9:06. I'm enough of a conspiracy theorist to believe that some of this stuff is man-made and we're the lab rats.
What gets me is when you're out in public and people cough on you...especially now!
Cover your damn mouth if you must cough! I really don't want whatever you have if it is contagious!
My husband and I were discussing this virus last night after a guy at Lowe's in Seaford was really hacking. This winter, this stuff will probably spread like wildfire.
I'm gonna hate having to get groceries or anything else where I have to be around these IDIOTS!
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