October 24, 2009
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states on their main flu Web sitehttp://www.cdc.gov/flu/ that flu activity is increasing in the United States, with most states reporting “widespread influenza activity.”
The CDC goes on to say, and I quote:
“So far, most flu is 2009 H1N1 flu (sometimes called “swine flu”).”
But wait stop the presses.
A three-month-long investigation by CBS News, released earlier this week that included state-by-state test results, revealed some very different facts. The CBS study found that H1N1 flu cases are NOT as prevalent as feared. A CBS article even states:
“If you’ve been diagnosed “probable” or “presumed” 2009 H1N1 or “swine flu” in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu. In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all.“
Obviously CBS News and the CDC are completely contradicting each other. So who is right?
Well, CBS reports that in late July 2009 the CDC advised states to STOP testing for H1N1 flu, and they also stopped counting individual cases.
Their rationale for this, according to CBS News, was that it was a waste of resources to test for H1N1 flu because it was already confirmed as an epidemic.
So just like that virtually every person who visited their physician with flu-like symptoms since late July was assumed to have H1N1, with no testing necessary because, after all, there’s an epidemic.
It’s interesting to note that at the same time as the CDC decided the H1N1 epidemic warranted no further testing for cases due to its epidemic status, Finnish health authorities actually downgraded the threat of swine flu.
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