*WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The confirmed number of H1N1 influenza cases in the U.S. nearly doubled since Thursday to 1,639 in 42 states and Washington, D.C., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
"We continue to see hundreds and hundreds of cases each day," said CDC acting director Richard Besser. He said he's concerned by the idea "that we've dodged a bullet" with the new influenza strain that's turned out to be acting like the typical flu. Along with the 1,639 confirmed cases, Besser said there's another 850 "probable" cases that are awaiting confirmatory testing. The figures also likely an under-count of the true number of cases in the U.S. because some states have curtailed or stopped testing for the H1N1 influenza strain. CDC officials have said testing is only necessary at the beginning of an outbreak to see where the virus is spreading. Separately, President Barack Obama weighed in on the situation the influenza situation. "We're seeing that the virus may not have been as virulent as we at first feared," he said Friday. "But we're not out of the woods yet." CDC's case count Friday is up from 896 in 41 states reported Thursday. The number of confirmed H1N1 influenza cases has steadily climbed all week as more states begin their own H1N1 testing. So far there have been two deaths in Texas, both in patients with underlying health problems. Besser said the CDC would be closely monitoring the situation as Mexico - where the outbreak of H1N1 flu is believed to have started - fully reopens businesses and schools, which had been shut down to cut down on the spread of the disease. Earlier this week the U.S. government lifted a recommendation that schools with H1N1 cases close for up to 14 days, and instead said parents should keep sick children home and that schools should be on alert for sick students and staff to send home. Besser also said CDC will closely monitor the H1N1 virus in the Southern Hemisphere where seasonal influenza season is getting under way to see if it will provide any clues about what might happen here. Health officials are concerned the H1N1 virus, which is a new mix of swine, bird and human viruses that previously hadn't been seen in humans, could become stronger in the fall with the start of the 2009-2010 influenza season. The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic started with a milder flu strain in the spring but came back more virulent in the fall and was responsible for 5 million deaths worldwide. The World Health Organization said 25 countries have reported 2,500 cases of H1N1 infection, in a posting to its Web site. However, those figures are also expected to keep climbing as they don't reflect the current U.S. totals. The organization has said it doesn't yet see evidence of sustained person-to-person transmission of the new influenza virus outside North America. In order for the agency to declare a pandemic it would need to see human-to-human transmission in another region of the world in addition to North America. * --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
