Health officials at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States say 10,000 people have died from the A(H1N1) influenza virus, also known as the Mexican flu, in the US.

 
Among the victims are 1100 children and 7500 young adults. This, say the officials, is striking because in a ‘normal’ influenza outbreak, it is mainly old people who fall victim to the virus.

The latest figures show that almost 50 million US inhabitants have been infected with the A(H1N1) virus. Approximately 200,000 of those had to go to hospital.

Until recently, many people in the US had assumed the death toll from the flu was far lower, even though health authorities disputed this. They pointed out that the last count of fatalities to be released was based on the number of deaths in just ten states. In November, the method used to calculate the number of flu fatalities was adjusted. It was this method that produced the latest figures.

Picture of influenza A(H1N1) virus from Wikimedia Commons