# 3227
With each passing day, the `official numbers’ released by the WHO and the CDC lose more relevance. They no longer come close to representing the true spread and impact of the H1N1 virus.
And no, that isn’t just my assessment, that’s the assessment of the CDC as well. Their numbers (which make up over half of the world’s `total’) represent, in their words, `the tip of the iceberg’.
Today, thirty days after the first cases emerged into the limelight, the world’s official tally sits just over 10,000 cases with 80 deaths.
Influenza A(H1N1) - update 34
20 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 20 May 2009, 40 countries have officially reported 10 243 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 80 deaths.
Here in the United States, we are now only testing the most severely ill for the virus, and then generally only if they present with `classic’ influenza symptoms.
It simply isn’t practical, or a good use of resources, to try to test everyone.
Thousands of people are told every day to stay home if they are sick, and no, they don’t need to go to a hospital or their doctor unless their symptoms are severe.
In some other countries, there appears to have been some reluctance to test for the H1N1 virus, for fear of forcing the WHO into raising the pandemic alert level.
And in many countries of the world, the capability to test for the virus is limited. People get sick, recover at home (or sometimes die), and no investigation is ever done to determine why.
What we end up with is a very skewed picture of what is really going on with this virus.
Which is okay, I guess, as long as we remembered that it is skewed, and don’t put too much stock in these official tallies.
