CDC: 35 child H1N1 deaths in one week

ATLANTA, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Federal health officials said that 35 flu-related pediatric deaths were confirmed during the week ending Nov. 7, 2009.

Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said Friday that overall flu activity in the United Sates remained very high last week.

Visits to doctors for symptoms of influenza-like illness nationally had decreased the week ending Nov. 1 over the week before. This is the second week of national decreases in influenza-like illness after four consecutive weeks of sharp increases.

All regions but one showed declines in influenza-like illness. However, Region I -- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont -- continued to show sharp increases in influenza-like illness activity, the CDC report said.

Hospitalization rates continue to be highest in younger populations with the highest hospitalization rate reported in children ages infant to age 4.

Since April, CDC has received reports of 156 laboratory-confirmed pediatric H1N1 deaths, one influenza B death, and another 23 pediatric deaths that were laboratory confirmed as influenza, but the flu virus subtype was not determined.

Thursday, CDC officials said they estimated 540 children died from the pandemic in the first six months. While the smaller number of pediatric deaths are laboratory confirmed, the CDC is also using modeling to estimate the number of H1N1 deaths that occur outside the hospital where testing is not possible.