Surgeon general warns H1N1 remains a threat, urges vaccination

Surgeon General Regina Benjamin saw plenty of viruses during some 23 years as a family doctor in Alabama.

H1N1, she said Tuesday from the U.S. Olympic headquarters in Colorado Springs, is worse.

"During those times," she said about her medical practice, "I had never seen as strong and as pervasive a virus as the H1N1. The difference with this virus is that the strong and healthy, just like you (Olympic) athletes, are getting sick, and some are dying of this virus." 

Cases of the pandemic flu have decreased since the fall, even as vaccine has become available to everyone who wants it. The top U.S. doctor's message, delivered at a vaccination clinic for the U.S. Olympic staff on Tuesday, was intended to remind people that the virus -- and the need to be vaccinated -- remains.

Benjamin, who was appointed to the cabinet-level post by President Barack Obama and is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 11, said some 50 million people in the U.S. have been infected with H1N1 since it was first discovered last April, and about 200,000 of them were hospitalized. There have been 10,000 deaths, with more than a thousand of those being children, she said.

"We know that the more people that get vaccinated, the less likely we are to have illness in the coming months," she said.

Flu is notoriously unpredictable, but past pandemics suggest there could be a third wave of cases. Vaccine, which is widely considered by the medical community as the most effective flu deterrent, could significantly lessen the impact of such a resurgence if it occurs. During a 1957 pandemic, cases went down in December, but deaths increased in the following three months, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, assistant surgeon general and director of immunization and respiratory diseases for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who was also at Tuesday's clinic and news conference.

Rather than guessing what the flu will do, the two federal officials said the vaccine is a safe way to prevent it.

Schuchat told reporters: "I spent most of 2009 talking about very sad events, about pregnant women and children and healthy adults getting really sick from this H1N1 virus, and I'm thrilled that we have a lot of vaccine right now and a chance to have a good news story for 2010."

Schuchat also said that people who suspect they have had the flu should still be vaccinated, given the risk of initially being diagnosed with a different illness and not having immunity.