Surprising October 2009 news from Centers for Disease Control is that this past spring, 7% of Americans sick enough to be hospitalized with the novel H1N1 flu, have died. That 7% is a higher mortality rate than ordinary seasonal flu. How many Americans ended up in intensive care with the new H1N1 virus? 25%. These statistics provoked Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University flu expert, to warn: Contrary to the perception among many people that this influenza, the novel H1N1, is mild, these data vividly demonstrate that this influenza can make you very, very ill.