In September 2009, the CDC reported that more than 99% of circulating influenza viruses at that time in the United States were the Influenza A 2009 H1N1 strain.
In a press briefing December 10, 2009, Thomas Frieden, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that people under the age of 65 are most impacted by the H1N1 virus. The CDC estimated at the time of the briefing that more than 50 million people in the United States alone had been infected with the H1N1 virus (one in six people). Of this number, more than 200,000 had been hospitalized. An estimated 10,000 deaths could be attributed to the virus, the majority being children and younger adults.
The transcript of this press briefing can be accessed at:
http://www.cdc.gov/media/transcripts/2009/t091210.htm.
Accessed January 17, 2010.
On January 14, 2010, Dr Keiji Fukuda, Special Adviser to the Director-Generalon Pandemic Influenza, World Health Organization stated in a press conference that conservatively, about 13,000 people worldwide have died as a result of 2009 H1N1 virus.
The transcript of this press conference can be accessed at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/vpc_transcript_14_january_10_fukuda.pdfAccessed January 17, 2010.
