Swine Flu Hits 1 in 6

Swine flu had sickened 50 million Americans, and killed 10,000 of them by mid-November, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates released yesterday. A sixth of the population has been infected and over 200,000 people with the H1N1 virus have been hospitalized. The number of deaths is normal for flu season but far more of the deaths than usual have been children and young adults, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The death rate was four times higher among Native Americans than in the general population. CDC director Thomas Frieden recommended that people get the H1N1 vaccine because there may be a new round of infections next year. "Only time will tell what the future will hold, but the more people who get vaccinated, the lower the probability of a third wave of the pandemic," he said at a news conference.
(More Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stories.)