U.S. Response to Swine Flu Called Good
But report said the health-care system would be overburdened if an outbreak were more severe
"The most difficult part of this list of vulnerabilities is vaccinating all Americans," said Dr. Len Horovitz, chief of pulmonary medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "It may be that with the tremendous scare this time about this particular virus, people may be more willing to be vaccinated. It remains to be seen but the message is vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. Not just for H1N1 but for the seasonal flu as well."
Since it was first detected in April, the H1N1 swine flu has caused 21,940 cases of infection worldwide, but just 125 deaths, 103 of them in Mexico, the source of the outbreak, the WHO reported Friday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday a total of 13,217 confirmed and probable cases and 27 deaths in 52 states and territories, including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Health officials in the United States have said that infections have been mild for the most part, and most patients recover fairly quickly. Testing has found that the H1N1 virus remains susceptible to two common antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza.
The report was prepared by the Trust for America's Health, the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
More information
View the full report at the Trust for America's Health.
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