ATLANTA — In a disturbing new projection, health officials said
that up to 40 percent of Americans could get swine flu this year
and next, and several hundred thousand could die without a
successful vaccine campaign and other measures. The estimates by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are roughly twice
the number of those who catch flu in a normal season and add
greater weight to hurried efforts to get a new vaccine ready for
the fall flu season. H1N1 swine flu has hit the United States
harder than any other nation, but it has struck something of a
glancing blow that's more surprising than devastating. The virus
has killed about 300 Americans, and experts believe it has
sickened more than 1 million, comparable to a seasonal flu
except for that it has the capability to keep spreading in
summer. Health officials said flu cases could explode in the
fall, when schools open and become germ factories, and the new
estimates dramatize the need to have vaccines and other measures
in place. A world health