The killer-flu, which is currently having devastating affects on the UK population, has crossed the Atlantic Ocean and
now has America reeling. Like the UK, hospitals are cancelling operations because of the virus. John Howard reports.
America is now finding itself in the grips of influenza A/Sydney/5/97-like (H3N2) which has swept eastwards from
California in the past two weeks and is affecting the whole country.
Already it is at epidemic levels.
A spokesman for the Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta said the number of deaths from influenza and pneumonia has
now reached 8.4 per cent of all deaths with figures expected to rise sharply this week. The definition of an epidemic is
when an infectious disease reaches 7.2 per cent of total deahs.
Hospitals in most of America's large cities have reported having to cancel sheduled operations entirely because of the
pressure of flu victims arriving each day. Casualty department have reported at least a 100 per cent increase in
patients since the beginning of the year.