Should you still be worried about swine flu?

Good news!

It seems like the number of swine flu infections has finally hit its peak. According to the Associated Press, the number of states with widespread infection of H1N1 has dropped from 43 to 32 (Yes, Arizona is still one of the 32). But hold on, there’s a catch.

There were also 27 newly-reported deaths among children with H1N1 under 18 last week, the highest number in a week since the pandemic started, according to the CDC’s H1N1 update.

While at first the scare about the swine flu seemed unnecessary, the disease does seem to be similar to the seasonal flu except for the targeted age. While the regular flu is usually fatal in the elderly and very young, swine flu is proving to be dangerous for mainly older children and young adults, according to the AP article.

OK, ready for more bad news? Many doctors think that there may be another wave of the virus after Christmas.

“We won’t be surprised if we see another uptick later this year or early next year when kids return to school from Christmas break,” said CDC spokesman Tom Skinner in the article.

CDC H1N1 Hospitalizations and Deaths

Still, we can try to be optimistic with the recent numbers. There have been pretty large drops in numbers of deaths and hospitalizations in the 46th week of the year. Some doctors, like Dr. Richard Besser, think this slow in the outbreak will be a nice break for people to get vaccinated before another possible wave.

So the big question is: should we still be worried about the swine flu? Or do you think the worst is over?

* For weekly updates, check out the CDC’s weekly report.