WASHINGTON (Reuters) - World health officials have given up trying to count how many people have the H1N1 swine flu virus, saying the best they can do is estimate the spread of the "unstoppable" virus. But on Friday, Dr. 
Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined even to hazard a guess, saying it was "more than a million." Why not? Because officials do not have the tools they need to count. "Most people who have respiratory illnesses don't find out exactly what caused it. Even most people with influenza don't know exactly which type of influenza caused their illness," Schuchat told reporters. Diagnostic tests for influenza are not very good. In fact, swine flu is often suspected when a patient's instant in-office flu test comes up unreadable. "I think that we all know the diagnostics we have, have limitations," Robin Robinson, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told flu vaccine experts meeting this week. "I think we would all agree that there is a need to have improved point-of-care diagnostic testing," said pediatrician Dr. John Modlin, who chairs the vaccine committee that advises the Food and Drug Administration.
Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declined even to hazard a guess, saying it was "more than a million." Why not? Because officials do not have the tools they need to count. "Most people who have respiratory illnesses don't find out exactly what caused it. Even most people with influenza don't know exactly which type of influenza caused their illness," Schuchat told reporters. Diagnostic tests for influenza are not very good. In fact, swine flu is often suspected when a patient's instant in-office flu test comes up unreadable. "I think that we all know the diagnostics we have, have limitations," Robin Robinson, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told flu vaccine experts meeting this week. "I think we would all agree that there is a need to have improved point-of-care diagnostic testing," said pediatrician Dr. John Modlin, who chairs the vaccine committee that advises the Food and Drug Administration.For further details visit as : www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE56N6C620090724
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