Swine flu still out there, officials caution

H1N1 swine flu is still circulating around the world and still killing people, although it is on the decline everywhere, global health officials said on Friday. The H1N1 strain is the dominant form of influenza globally, but some seasonal strains are starting to emerge in China and Africa, the World Health Organisation reported. The United States remains one of the hardest hit countries, but many Americans seem unconcerned and most have rejected the vaccine, according to a poll by the Harvard School of Public Health released on Friday. "Many people believe the outbreak is over and I think it is too soon for us to have that complacency," Dr Anne Schuchat of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters in a telephone briefing. "This pandemic isn't over yet." The CDC said nine more children had been reported killed by H1N1 last week. It estimates that as many as 80 million Americans have been infected with swine flu and about 11,000 people have died.