Previously, the federal officials had reported that nearly 21,000 people were hospitalized and upto 800 died from April to July.
However, according to the new estimates made by CDC and the Harvard School of Public health, the figures were underreported, instead there were 43,677 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu, and 5,009 hospitalizations during that period.
Also, the CDC researchers are suggesting that most of the people infected with the H1N1 virus during that time period had mild illnesses and were not tested by the doctors, and many lab-confirmed positive cases might not have been reported to the health authorities.
Mathematical model used to anticipate swine flu tally
In order to correctly extrapolate the tally of the pandemic flu, the scientists had been working on a mathematical model to track the swine flu cases in the country instead of counting lab-confirmed cases after July 23.
Using the mathematical model, they estimated that for every confirmed case of swine flu, probably 79 others occurred. And for every reported hospitalization, probably three flu-related hospitalizations occurred.
Untill now, there has been an alarming five-fold increase in the flu related hospitalizations and deaths, 140 times more than what had been reported initially. This calls for an immediate and accurate health measures all across the country, they said.
"We don't have an update since July 23 with this modelling approach, but as [CDC Director Thomas] Frieden said last week, we do believe many millions of people have already contracted this virus here in the U.S.," informed CDC’s respiratory disease chief Dr. Anne Schuchat.
"It's probably now well more than 20,000 hospitalizations," she said. "Really, the priority is to minimize illness and death."
The current estimates on the swine flu toll are published online in the journal Emerging Infectitious Diseases.
Swine flu doses in circulation across the country
In the wake of the pandemic, nearly 24.8 million doses of swine flu vaccine are now available in the country, as informed by the federal officials.
Many people are still complaining about the vaccines’ shortages in the public health clinics.
Many parents are also frustrated owing to the non-availability of the pediatric doses of Tamiflu for their children.
However, Dr. Schuchat has reassured that nearly 300000 doses of Tamiflu have been sent to various states this month and that the deficit is only momementry.
“We aren’t where we want to be, but are seeing forward progress,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat.
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