Young people more likely to catch H1N1

LONDON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Young people under the age of 18 are more likely than adults to catch H1N1 from an infected person in their home, U.S. and British researchers found.

Scientists at the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis & Modelling at Imperial College London and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data collected by CDC from 216 people believed to be infected with H1N1 and 600 people living in their households.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed the average length of time between one person displaying the first symptoms of flu and someone else in their household having symptoms is 2.6 days.

"At the start of the current flu pandemic we didn't know how different factors affected the risk of transmitting the virus to other people," lead author Dr. Simon Cauchemez of Imperial College London said in a statement.

"Our new research helps us to do this -- for example it shows that children are more at risk of being infected than adults."

The study also suggests that people infected with swine flu might not need to stay at home as long as we previously thought -- if they are only likely to transmit the virus to other people for the first few days of their illness, Cauchemez said.