CDC: Up to 16,500 died of H1N1

ATLANTA, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Federal health officials estimate about 7,880 to 16,460 people died in the United States related to the H1N1 virus from April to Dec. 12 last year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta released a statement Friday that said the CDC estimates that 830 to 1,730 children and teens ages 0-17 died in the United States of H1N1-related illness, 6,090 to 12,720 ages 18-64 died and 960 to 2,010 age 65 and older died, the statement said.

CDC estimates that 39 million to 80 million cases of H1N1 occurred between April and Dec. 12. Between 173,000 and 362,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations occurred between April and Dec. 12, the CDC said.

"We have taken all the various sources of data and surveillance systems to help understand how much the H1N1 disease burden is out there -- these are estimates using many sources of data and we are very confident with these numbers and these numbers are consistent with other sources of information," Dr. Beth Bell of the CDC told United Press International.

"The laboratory confirmed H1N1 illness and deaths -- which are much lower -- are under reported for a number of reasons including many people do not get treated by a doctor, many do not get hospitalized, many do not get tested for H1N1 and the rapid test for H1N1 is not always accurate."