CDC: H1N1 Has Sickened 22 Million in 6 Months
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Government health officials say swine flu has sickened about 22 million Americans since April.
They say about 4,000 have died, including 540 children.
The startling new figures -- about four times higher than previous death estimates -- don't mean swine flu has suddenly gotten worse. Instead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday called them a long-awaited better attempt to understand the virus' true toll.
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The CDC now believes that about 98,000 people have been hospitalized in the first six months of the nation's swine flu epidemic, including 36,000 children.