MONDAY, Nov. 2 (HealthDay News) -- As of Friday, 19 children had died of H1N1 influenza in the past week, bringing the total number of pediatric deaths from the disease to at least 114, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced at an Oct. 30 news conference.
According to CDC director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., it is almost a certainty that more than 114 children have actually died of H1N1 -- the CDC can only provide information on laboratory confirmed hospitalizations and deaths. He added that two-thirds of the children who have died have had chronic health problems, including muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, and asthma.
Frieden also noted that, in the last two months, there have been more hospitalizations among people younger than 65 years than there are in most entire flu seasons. In addition, there are now more than 26 million doses of H1N1 vaccine in circulation, up from 16.1 million just over a week ago.
"In a usual flu season, 90 percent of the deaths are among people over the age of 65. In H1N1, 90 percent of the deaths are in people under the age of 65," Frieden said.
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