Deadliest Week for U.S. Children and Swine Flu: CDC

At the same time, the CDC has decided to release the last of its stockpile of liquid Tamiflu for children. This announcement comes as reports of short supplies for the childhood form of the treatment for those already afflicted have emerged.

The shortage of children's Tamiflu is both a result of demand for the medication, as well as the decision of the manufacturer, Roche, which has decided to focus on making capsules, rather than the liquid form that children require.

The FDA has requested that pharmacists break open capsules and mix the powdered contents with syrup to make a liquid version, and has provided, along with the CDC, a formula for pharmacists to follow. The formula includes guidelines for the correct dosage for children by weight.

CDC officials do not keep an exact count of U.S. swine flu deaths, except for children. However, estimate are that the overall number of deaths has surpassed 1,000. Officials add that many millions have been sickened by the H1N1 virus since it was first identified in April.

Along with Tamiflu shortages, there are still serious shortages in in the swine flu vaccine. While manufacturers have been releasing more doses, and now nearly 27 million doses are available for shipment, up from 16 million a week ago, this is still far short of initial government estimates of doses that would be available at this time.