HHS HealthBeat (January 8, 2010)

How much H1N1

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

There are a lot of cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza – in fact, more than experts on statistics can count, because the vast majority of cases don’t make it into the counting system.

At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Carrie Reed says many people got well at home without seeing a doctor. She says many who went to a doctor got a diagnosis of flu, but not a reportable test to tell whether it’s H1N1. 

But Reed says health care providers needed to know the number of cases.

[Carrie Reed speaks] "We didn’t want to run the risk of underestimating the impact that this was having on the community."

Her report estimated cases during the spring, and the numbers have been updated since. CDC estimates that for April through November there were between 34 million and 67 million cases.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011