U.S. Swine Flu Deaths Recalculated, Quadruple

As first reported by the New York Times, the CDC has revised its figures upward from 1,200 to 4,000, nearly quadrupling the number said to have died as a result of H1N1 swine flu. The new figures will not be officially released until next week, the Times said, because the CDC is still poring over them.

The new estimates are a result of combining deaths from laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu and deaths that appear to be brought on by flu. This would include deaths from secondary infections such as bacterial pneumonia, other infections, or organ failure.

The CDC has done this because that is the same methodology used to calculate the number of seasonal flu deaths annually. As that number, 36,000 is used as a comparative with the H1N1 swine flu, it was necessary to be sure that people were comparing "apples to apples."

The CDC has previously said that "many millions" of Americans have caught the H1N1 swine flu since it first appeared in April. However, the CDC also indicated that it was difficult to give an exact figure as many do not go to a doctor and have the swine flu confirmed.

While raising the number of deaths attributed to swine flu, the new number doesn't seem to indicate the U.S. is anywhere near the contagion level publicized in August in a report issued by the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. That report estimated there may eventually be a number in the range of 30,000 to 90,000 deaths.