How Many People are Infected with the Swine Flu?
Today the CDC reports 896 confirmed cases and 2 deaths in the U.S., but this is far from the whole story.
In the U.S., state labs have been struggling with huge backlogs of untested flu samples. The Texas State Lab, for instance, currently has tested only 13 percent of the 6,677 samples received. Test kits were finally delivered May 5 to laboratories in all 50 states and Puerto rico. The test kits were shipped internationally as well. This increase in testing capacity is likely to result in a sudden increase in the number of reported confirmed cases in this country, which should provide a more accurate picture of the extent of the spread.
The virus does appear to be spreading with ease. In two weeks, swine flu jumped from isolated reports in the U.S. and Mexico to a widening circle of infections in Central America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and New Zealand. The WHO is on the verge of declaring a pandemic. In fact there is significant concern that the “swine flu may affect at least one-third of the world’s 6 billion population within the next year”, said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general of health, security and environment, in a video broadcast today.
Source: “Swine Flu Travels to Poland as 1,893 Confirmed Ill”, Bloomberg.com, May 7, 2009
Source: Source: “Reporter tries to get tested for swine flu“, Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2009
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