Swine flu central: No winter surge of H1N1 cases coming?

Chiehwen Ed Hsu, UT School of Health Information Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Abstract

Everyone worries about how hard swine flu's going to hit when fall turns to winter, the traditional peak of the influenza season, but one expert says early indications are we might not see much wider spread of the H1N1 virus in January and February. Hsu says the "widespread" prevalence of swine flu in southern states and the "local" or "regional" spread in northern states suggests the virus' spread may not be influenced by cooler temperatures. He notes that that's not just been since temperatures turned colder in the United States' North, but in Northeast Asia as well.