US, Among Others, Stops Counting Swine Flu Cases

The United States government has stopped keeping track of the number of H1N1 flu virus. Doctors working for government offices report that they stopped counting the number of swine flu cases in July, when there were estimated to be roughly one million infected people in the country. The number of deaths has been just over 600 since September.

Health officials say that their monitoring system is accurate, but since many infected people do not get tested the numbers are inaccurate. This means there isn’t a clear picture of which demographics are hit hardest, though experts guess they include children, young adults, the elderly, pregnant women, and the obese. Andrew Pekosz, a flu expert from John Hopkins University, says “This wasn’t as critical early on, when case numbers were low,” and that it is difficult now to tell how dangerous the virus is from group to group.

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