10 Percent Of NYC Infected With Swine Flu
About 800,000 people in New York City are believed to have been infected with the H1N1 flu virus this spring, according to a new study.
"In New York City where we had a lot of H1N1 this last spring the estimate is about 800,000 people, about 10 percent of New York City residents, got infected with the flu," Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told C-SPAN.
"That’s a lot of people," added Frieden, who was previously New York City’s health commissioner.
It is now estimated that more than 1 million people in the US have been infected with the swine flu.
The World Health Organization estimates that one third of the world’s population will become infected.
"We expect that some places will have more flu. Some places will have less," Frieden said, referring to the US.
Experts at agencies including the CDC are focused on H1N1 as it is expected to spread at an even faster rate during autumn because of cooler weather and children returning to schools.
Seasonal flu typically infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of any population, resulting in the death of about 250,000 to 500,000 people worldwide each year.
The H1N1 virus is newer to the population with fewer people being immune, which has caused health officials to believe that more people will be affected.
Drug companies are readying a batch of new vaccines against H1N1.
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