The A/H1N1 flu death toll in the United States has reached 170, while confirmed and probable cases rose to 33,902, according to the latest statistics released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.
The CDC said that 43 more deaths have been reported in the past week, a 34 percent jump from the previous record of 127, and 6,203 new confirmed and probable cases have emerged, representing a 22-percent increase from the previous total of 27,717 released a week ago.
Since the outbreak of the A/H1N1 flu, the state of New York has been leading the nation with most deaths of the new flu virus. The latest CDC report shows there have been 44 deaths in the state, including 38 in New York City.
Meanwhile, the state of Wisconsin has most cases of the A/H1N1 flu. The CDC said on its website that there have been 5,681 confirmed and probable cases in the state.
However, those are "really just the tip of the iceberg," Dr. Anne Schuchat, a leading CDC expert, said last week. She and other CDC experts believe that there might be more than one million Americans who have been infected with the A/H1N1 virus, though many probably had only a mild illness.
Worldwide, latest statistics posted on Wednesday by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that 77,201 people have been caught the A/H1N1 flu, with 332 having died from it.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2009)