Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Virus (Swine Flu)
Novel Influenza A (H1N1) virus (also referred to as "pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus" or "swine flu") is a type of influenza (flu) virus that causes respiratory disease that can spread between people. Most people infected with this virus in the United States have had mild disease, but some have had more severe illness. On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6 in response to the ongoing global spread of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. Since the WHO declaration of a pandemic, the new H1N1 virus has continued to spread, with the number of countries reporting cases of novel H1N1 nearly doubling. The Southern Hemisphere’s regular influenza season has begun and countries there are reporting that the new H1N1 virus is spreading and causing illness along with regular seasonal influenza viruses. In the United States, significant novel H1N1 illness has continued into the summer, with localized and in some cases intense outbreaks occurring.
Symptoms: The symptoms of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with novel influenza A (H1N1) virus. If you are sick or think you have novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection, please contact your healthcare provider.
Questions: If you have additional questions you can call the CDPH novel influenza A (H1N1) virus (Swine Flu) Hotline at 1-888-865-0564, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, or contact your local health department (PDF).
Vaccine: Novel H1N1 Vaccination Information and Recommendations 
More Info: More information about novel influenza A (H1N1) virus is available below including facts and general information.
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Note: The virus name has been revised to "Pandemic (H1N1) 2009," updates are being made to this website to reflect this recent change
Changes in Pandemic Flu (H1N1) Data Reporting
Effective July 16, 2009, CDPH has changed the reporting requirements for individual case reporting for pandemic H1N1 influenza by local health jurisdictions (LHJs). New reporting requirements will track only hospitalized and fatal cases. Non-hospitalized case reporting is no longer needed at this stage of the pandemic. Updates to the pandemic H1N1 influenza data collected by LHJs will continue to be posted weekly on Thursdays.
The reporting changes are based on the following:
Need to focus efforts on documenting and understanding the most severe cases of disease to target our treatment and prevention efforts.
Hospitalizations and fatalities provide the most accurate measure of disease severity in California communities and serve the public health goal of tracking H1N1 disease trends; and
H1N1 is now widespread throughout California and reporting outpatient cases does not assist in further efforts to understand the pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also changed their reporting of data.
Questions & Answers About CDC's Novel H1N1 Influenza Surveillance - July 24 
Reported Hospitalized and Fatal Cases of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Virus Infections in California, as of August 5, 2009: 892 hospitalizations, 92 deaths.
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