Actually, that number of 36,000 die each year of regular flu is not true. Someone made that number up to stop panic in the US when we were watching Mexico in April and May.
The actual number of deaths due to regular flu is much, much less - DVDmom posted up thread the actual statistic kept by the CDC.
And if you subtract the number of deaths due to secondary bacterial infections (such as pneumonia), the number is A LOT less. The number of deaths due to seasonal influenza could be smaller still if autopsies were conducted -- many older patients are lumped into the group without definitive proof of death causation.
Oh...ok. Thanks for the correction.
I hate to ask this question, but....can we really trust the CDC to report accurately....now?