October 16, 2009WASHINGTON (AP) -- The swine flu is causing an unprecedented amount of illness for so early in the fall -- and federal health officials said Friday that 11 more children have died in the past week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about half of the child deaths since September have been among teenagers.
And overall for the country, deaths from pneumonia and flu-like illnesses have passed what CDC considers an epidemic level. About 6 percent of all doctor visits are for flu-like illnesses, levels not normally seen until later in the fall.
The CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat (SHU'-kit) says, "These are very sobering statistics."
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