A flu could affect 40% of Americans over the next two years and hundreds of thousands could die

Health authorities in United States warned today that the influenza A (H1N1) could affect 40 percent of its citizens over the next two years, while hundreds of thousands could die if the vaccination campaign and other measures do not work .


In this regard, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC for short) is estimated to double the number affected by the traditional flu season in a normal. But these projections would fall if the new vaccine was available for a large proportion of the population and in the short term.


The authorities have planned to have 160 million doses of flu vaccine for the new next October, so it will begin testing soon, reports the NBC television network.


These estimates are based on figures that left the flu pandemic in 1957, when nearly 70,000 people died in the United States, although this virus was not as deadly as the flu or 1918 Spanish flu. However, the CDC spokesman, Tom Skinner, warned that the behavior of influenza is difficult to predict.


In a normal flu season, about 36,000 people die of flu in this country, according to the American Medical Association. Added to the amount of people are expected to infect new influenza deaths for the next two years could be between 90,000 and hundreds of thousands, the CDC estimates, but stressed that vaccines and other measures failed.


The World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned that influenza A could affect some 2,000 million people in two years, about one third of the world population.