President Obama's science advisers warned Monday that swine flu could infect almost half the U.S. population this fall and winter and cause up to 90,000 deaths, mostly in kids and young adults. The estimation is double the deaths normally associated with the seasonal flu.
The report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology laid out a "plausible scenario" where the H1N1 virus might infect 60 million to 120 million people. As many as 1.8 million people can be admitted to hospitals with up to 300,000 of them requiring treatment in intensive care units, the council found.
"This is going to be fairly serious," said Harold E. Varmus of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, cochair of 21-member council. "It's going to stress every aspect of our health system."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that parents get their family vaccinate once the shot is available.
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