'That still leaves most people not having been infected and still susceptible,' CDC director Dr. Thomas R. Frieden said at a news conference. The agency also reported that more than 200,000 people had been hospitalized and nearly 10,000 had died. Estimates released about a month ago showed 22 million Americans had been infected and that 3,900 had died. But that does not mean that 6,000 people died in the intervening month, Frieden said; delays in reporting account for some of that increase.Frieden said the 200,000 hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic seven months ago is about the same as in a usual flu season. The deaths are lower than the 35,000 normally associated with seasonal flu in a typical year, but the breakdown of those who died is sharply different. The 10,000 deaths include 1,100 children and 7,500 younger adults. Those figures 'are much higher than in a usual flu season,' he said. In a normal flu season, there are about 1,000 deaths among Americans younger than 50. 'But a large proportion of the 7,500 adults (who died) are under 50,' he said. Hospitalizations among the younger group are also several times higher than normal. The estimates are compiled from both the number of laboratory-confirmed cases and from cases that may be listed on death certificates as pneumonia, organ failure or other infections, but which were precipitated by flu. To compile the estimates, researchers use comprehensive data from 62 counties in 10 states, including deaths outside hospitalizations in which laboratory confirmation did not occur; a fraction of deaths in which lab tests were negative (the tests give as many as 40 percent false negatives); and a variety of other data. Since the beginning of the pandemic, researchers have been concerned by anecdotal reports that indigenous peoples suffer more heavily from swine flu. In a new study of native populations in 12 states that account for about half the American Indian population, reported Thursday in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers from the agency found that the death rate is four times higher than normal for this group. 'That is most likely a reflection of environmental factors, underlying health conditions and access to health care,' Frieden said. In particular, diabetes is prevalent among American Indians. Such underlying conditions place people at higher risk of hospitalization and death from flu. American Indians have been one of the groups with a high priority for swine flu vaccination, but the agency has no data on what proportion have received the shots, he said. Swine flu vaccine supplies continue to grow, he said. There are now 85 million doses available, up by 12 million from last week. Frieden recommended that people get the swine flu vaccine because of uncertainties about whether a new wave of swine flu will come after the first of the year. 'What will happen in the future, only the future will tell,' he said. 