CBS News reports that the figures the CDC reports on its website to the public about H1N1 swine flu deaths are incomplete. In the past week only 29 states even reported swine flu hospitalizations and deaths to the CDC. The CDC has some internal estimates to indicate the actual deaths to be about double what they are publicly reporting. In addition to states not reporting data to the CDC there are also many H1N1 swine flu deaths that fail to get reported as H1N1 deaths because they are not lab confirmed. This is yet more distressing news that our modern healthcare system is unable to accurately tell us what is happening. In the future we need to be able to identify every single cold and flu virus that is spreading around the country. We need to know exactly what makes people sick, what sends people into hospitals and what kills them. Without this we are always going to be playing catchup when it comes to stopping the latest outbreak.
