76 U.S. Children Have Died From H1N1 Swine Flu

Healthday News reports that the CDC has announced that 76 children have died from the H1N1 swine flu.

Over the last three years, deaths among children from the regular seasonal flu ranged from 46 to 88, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during an afternoon press conference.

"So we have already had 76 children dying from the 2009 H1N1 virus, and it's only the beginning of October," she said. "We are seeing more illness, more hospitalizations and more deaths each week from the flu. Virtually all the virus circulating right now is the H1N1 2009 virus."

About 30 percent of the children who died had chronic medical conditions, such as asthma, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, Schuchat said.

Hopefully, parents will let their children get swine flu shots. A recent poll found that over 1/3 of parents don't want to vaccinate their children because they are afaraid of side effects from the vaccine or because they think the swine flu is mild. Parents should keep in mind that the H1N1 swine flu can be deadly and it is hitting children and young adults more severely than seniors. There are also many parents who are ready to vaccinate their children but the long-awaited shots are not available yet.