CDC No Longer Keeping Count of Swine Flu Deaths

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http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE56N3PQ20090724

Does anyone else find this rather peculiar? I could see not being able to track the number of cases since they gave up on testing, but they don't want to know how many have died from this disease, and we are only four months into the pandemic?

Doctors are going to be filling out death certificates with their best guesstimate of what killed the patient, but CDC is not going make any kind of attempt to track this? This information is part of our history. Not only that, it is part of data that should be gathered on this new influenza virus. Throwing in the towel this early in the game is a copeout. The question is why have TPTB made this decision? This is not 1918.

So they will put in the history books, we gave up at 300? It was too overwhelming...

More than 300 people have died from the new pandemic swine flu virus, U.S. health officials said on Friday, but they said the virus was so widespread they were ceasing the official count.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 43,771 cases of H1N1 influenza had been officially confirmed, with 302 deaths.

The pandemic spread globally in less than two months and has infected people in 160 countries, killing 800 people, the World Health Organization said. The WHO numbers do not include the latest CDC count.

Health experts say millions have likely been infected worldwide, but doctors can only test a fraction of suspected cases. Flu tests are expensive and unreliable and confirming H1N1 swine flu is difficult.

Health officials are now working with companies to test and make a vaccine against H1N1 to be delivered alongside seasonal influenza vaccines.

(hat tip flutrackers/St Michael)

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What is going on here? Who got to who? This is an outrage! What about all the researchers that could use the data to help the fight future pandemics. TSK, TSK!!!!

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I've been having flashbacks to the "Great Disorganization", aka the government response to Katrina. There just seems to be a lack of a standardized response system. The US response overall has been very poor, from where I stand.

I get the feeling that the CDC just finally gave up trying to act as Chief Cat Herder.

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http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2009/07/who-pandemic-briefing-4.html

apparently, yesterday's story that the cdc was not going to keep track of deaths, was in error, as my friend, mike over at avian flu diary points out, and i have to admit that i am very relieved to hear this as it made no sense at all:

while the who (world health organization) no longer provides us with regularly updated numbers of infected or deaths, they have been releasing periodic briefing statements such as this one today.

as a side note, today's cdc numbers are the last counts we shall see in this country, as well. dr. anne schuchat stated in her presser today that these numbers (43,771 lab confirmed case and 302 deaths) represented just `the tip of the iceberg', and really served little use anymore.

(clarification: a notice has been posted on the cdc site stating that while total cases won't be reported any longer, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to be reported weekly)

in most countries the majority of pandemic (h1n1) 2009 cases are still occurring in younger people, with the median age reported to be 12 to 17 years (based on data from canada, chile, japan, uk and the united states of america). some reports suggest that persons requiring hospitalization and patients with fatal illness may be slightly older.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

Next time some bizarre appearing news release occurs, it would be best to check with the organization/individual involved, for verification.

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Specializes in RN CRRN.

phew! Glad it was a mistake!

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Swine Flu Not Down for the Count

Yesterday CDC announced it would no longer report confirmed and probable swine flu cases. This will likely cause consternation in some quarters, but the reasons make sense. First, it should be said that the real pressure to stop counting is coming from the states, where resources are stretched so thin and the value of the numbers so meager they no longer could afford to do it. The data, like most notifiable disease data, comes from state health departments, not the CDC itself. It is also recognition of what everyone knew from the earliest days of this outbreak: the "official" numbers did not represent the true numbers and the disparity grew as the outbreak continued. This is true everywhere that this virus has begun to circulate in the community, and it has been circulating robustly for months in North America. It's anybody's guess exactly now much of an underestimate the official case count is, but it is certainly considerable. The only indisputable fact is that the virus is transmitting efficiently and widely almost everywhere. The official numbers are meaningless in that context.

Read on at:

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/07/swine_flu_not_down_for_the_cou.php

The Editors of Effect Measure are senior public health scientists and practitioners. Paul Revere was a member of the first local Board of Health in the United States (Boston, 1799). The Editors sign their posts "Revere" to recognize the public service of a professional forerunner better known for other things.

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... cat herding. :lol2:

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I think states keep data as well, since they have to report to CDC. Texas has them broken down by county - how many suspected cases, confirmed, and deaths. Cases confirmed so far for H1N1 - more than 5000 in our state alone!

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