16,000 People May Have Died From H1N1 Swine Flu

2,500 people line up in Texas City, Texas to receive the H1N1 vaccine photo: Nsaum75 – cc

Digital News Report – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 55 million Americans contracted the H1N1 Swine flu (see chart below). The agency admits that the data are hard to interpolate, but they estimate there were between 39 million and 80 million cases in the United States.

Originally it was believed the 2009-2010 Swine Flu pandemic began on factory farms in Mexico, but now experts believe it arose in Asian pig farms and then traveled to North America in humans. The flu’s origin is still being debated.

The CDC report is based on estimates and ranges. Out of the 55 million cases, 18 million occurred in people under 17 years of age. Only 5 million cases occurred in individuals over the age of 65.

There were over 11 thousand deaths. Approximately 8,620 of those deaths occurred in people between the age of 18 and 64.

Click here for the full CDC report

By: Jason Chang

Here is the data:

2009 H1N1 Mid-Level Range* Estimated Range *     Cases     0-17 years ~18 million ~12 million to ~26 million 18-64 years ~32 million ~23 million to ~47 million 65 years and older ~5 million ~4 million to ~7 million Cases Total ~55 million ~39 million to ~80 million Hospitalizations     0-17 years ~78,000 ~55,000 to ~115,000 18-64 years ~145,000 ~102,000 to ~213,000 65 years and older ~23,000 ~16,000 to ~34,000 Hospitalizations Total ~246,000 ~173,000 to ~362,000 Deaths     0-17 years ~1,180 ~830 to ~1,730 18-64 years ~8,620 ~6,090 to ~12, 720 65 years and older ~1,360 ~960 to ~2,010 Deaths Total ~11,160 ~7,880 to ~16,460