10,000 swine flu deaths in US

10,000 swine flu deaths in US:
estimates


An estimated 10,000 people including 1,100 children died of swine flu in the United States in the seven months after the new strain of flu was first detected in April, a top US health official said.

"By November 14th, many times more children and younger adults unfortunately have been hospitalised or killed by H1N1 influenza than happens in a usual flu season," Thomas Frieden, head of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters.

"Specifically, we estimate there have been nearly 50 million cases, mostly in younger adults and children; more than 200,000 hospitalizations... and sadly, nearly 10,000 deaths including 1,100 among children and 7,500 among younger adults," he said yesterday.

The number of hospitalisations was around the same as for an entire year when only seasonal flu is circulating, and the estimated death toll, which is based on a new methodology for calculating fatalities from (A)H1N1 flu that was rolled out last month, was "much higher than in a usual flu season," said Frieden.

The new way of tallying the number of dead from swine flu last month caused the estimated death toll from swine flu to soar to 4,000.

Obama Gatecrashers "Biggest Losers" of 2009

The White House gatecrashers, who shot to fame for strolling their way into US President Barack Obama's state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh without an invitation
, have been named the "biggest political losers" of this year.

Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who also rubbed elbows with the likes of President Obama, US Vice-President Joe Biden and Indian PM, and triumphantly posted photos of their coup on social networking site 'Facebook', have earned the distinction in a recent Gallup poll.

The poll, in which some 70 per cent of 1,025 Americans surveyed said the Salahis were "the biggest political losers", came just weeks after the Virginia couple were featured in the 'Time' magazine that gave them the seventh spot on its 'Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities' list of 2009.

Among this year's winners, US First Lady Michelle Obama has got the highest marks with 73 per cent of Americans voting for her, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has come second with 70 per cent of the respondents chosing her, and Obama managing to grab 58 per cent votes.

Others labelled "losers" include South Carolina Republican Joe Wilson, who became famous after his "You Lie!" outburst at President Obama, South Carolina's Governor Mark Sanford, whose fling with an Argentinean woman became public, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.