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In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases. When CBS News asked the CDC what the tests had found before they stopped counting, the CDC would not return their calls. So CBS News asked all 50 states for their statistics on state lab-confirmed H1N1 prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. The results were surprising. The CBS News Study found that “the vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico.” CBS News Study Conclusion: “If you’ve been diagnosed “probable” or “presumed” 2009 H1N1 or “swine flu” in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu.” |
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“Those who think they’ve had H1N1 flu – but haven’t – might mistakenly presume they’re immune. In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all. That’s according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation.” With most cases of the H1N1 flu being diagnosed solely by associated symptoms of fever with a sore throat or a cough, the H1N1 flu epidemic is being made to appear much worse than it is. Without lab testing, it’s impossible to know how many Americans have H1N1 flu. But the statistical trend discovered by CBS News indicates that only 2-17% of Americans actually had the H1N1 flu. That means that 83-98% of the suspected cases were some other flu or some other virus altogether. The CDC did not respond to questions from CBS News for this report. |