22 million Americans have been infected with the H1N1 virus. 100,000 have been hospitalized. 4,000 Americans have died. 8 million children have been infected with the H1N1 virus. 540 children have died. Why has the reported number of cases of the H1N1 flu recently climbed so dramatically? In addition to counting related illnesses (pneumonia and bacterial infections) caused by the H1N1 virus, the CDC announced a new method of more accurately calculating the impact of the H1N1 virus.

Relying only on lab-confirmed cases results is an under-estimation of the virus’ spread and impact. A large majority of patients never have their H1N1 symptoms confirmed by a lab because doctor’s offices, emergency departments, urgent care clinics and the laboratory themselves are all overwhelmed by the volume of sick patients. The CDC believes that this new method provides a more complete picture of the disease incidence and its severity.

The new method provides estimates of the following:

1-the number of people infected based on visits to treatment facilities (doctor’s offices, urgent care centers, emergency departments)

2-the number of patients hospitalized

3-the number of deaths in the first six months of the pandemic

The CDC feels that these estimates are more complete than counts that initially only used laboratory-confirmed cases and did not include those cases from the onset of the H1N1 pandemic.