CDC Says 50 Million Have Had Swine Flu

About 50 million Americans have had H1N1 (swine) flu, health officials said December 10. That’s about 1 out of 6. Deaths have totaled about 10,000, the officials said. The new estimates came from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They cover the months of April through mid-November. In that period, nearly 200,000 people were hospitalized with swine flu, the report said. That’s about the same number as for an entire typical winter flu season. Unlike seasonal flu, older adults have not been the people most affected. About 3 out of 4 deaths were adults ages 18 through 64, the CDC said. The Associated Press wrote about the report.