Government: Swine Flu Could Kill Up to 90,000 in US

According to report released Monday by the Obama administration's advisory group on Science and Technology, the H1N1 flu virus could cause as many as 30,000 to 90,000 deaths in the U.S., and "poses a serious health threat." The deaths would mainly be concentrated among children and young adults.

In contrast, the regular seasonal flu kills 30,000 to 40,000 each year, mostly among those over 65.

The report also predicts that during the epidemic, about 1.8 million people will be hospitalized. Of that, 300,000 are expected to require a stay in the intensive care unit. These patients could occupy anywhere from 50 to 100 percent of all ICU beds in affected regions at the peak of the epidemic, and would put "enormous stress" on ICU units.

The report also says that more needs to be done to speed up "the preparation of flu vaccine for distribution to high risk individuals." If not, the vaccine campaign may miss the peak of the epidemic. The vaccine campaign is not scheduled to begin until mid-October but the group believes that the resurgence of the epidemic would start in September and peak in mid-October. If this is correct, the vaccine campaign wouldn't start until after the epidemic had already peaked.