Source: Xinhua

05-05-2009 12:14

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The A/H1N1 flu virus spreading across the globe may probably be no more dangerous than common flu viruses, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said here Monday.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet  Napolitano speaks during a news conference on the A/H1N1 flu, in Washington D.C.,  capital of the U.S., May 4, 2009. (Xinhua photo)

"What the epidemiologists are seeing now with this particular strain...is that the severity of the disease, the severity of the flu -- how sick you get -- is not stronger than regular seasonal flu," she said at a press briefing at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Administration.

Napolitano said that U.S. officials are now "cautiously optimistic that this particular strain will not be more severe than a normal seasonal flu outbreak."

The official pointed out that seasonal flu puts hundreds of thousands of people in the hospital, and typically kills 35,000 people a year in the United States.

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