U.S. health officials said Friday that swine-flu activity is increasing, with 37 of the 50 U.S. states now reporting widespread cases. Officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia reported that the count is up from 27 states the previous week. The figures suggest a leveling off of influenza activity the previous week may have been an anomaly. CDC officials also said states have ordered 3.6 million doses of H1N1 vaccine for a campaign that started this week. U.S. health officials have intentionally stopped counting how many illnesses and deaths have been caused by the first global flu epidemic in 40 years. Government doctors stopped counting swine-flu cases in July, when they estimated more than 1 million cases in the United States. The number of deaths has been around 600 since early September.
