Ain’t No Cure for the Summertime Flu

The novel H1N1 swine flu virus looks like it’s going to hang out in the United States all summer, epidemiologist Dan Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a press conference today. “Influenza season normally has ended by now, however the novel H1N1 continues in the United States,” said Jernigan. “We’re anticipating that we will see the novel H1N1 continue with activity probably all the way into our flu season in the fall and winter.”

CDC testing now shows that 89% of the influenza virus still circulating in the United States is the novel H1N1 strain. Jernigan said the northeastern part of the country continues to see increased numbers of swine flu cases, and it may be related to the cooler climate in that region and influenza’s penchant for lower temperatures. He said in the areas hardest hit by the virus, it appears to infect about 7% of the populations. “Clearly there are hundreds of thousands of cases that have occurred in the U.S.,” he said.

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