New info shows H1N1 still hardest on young

? Swine flu continues to be most dangerous to kids and younger adults and is largely bypassing the elderly, according to the latest and most solid government health information.

Health officials on Tuesday released figures for swine flu hospitalizations and deaths for the seven weeks since the beginning of September. The information comes from 28 states.

It showed more than half of all hospitalizations were people 24 and younger; more than a quarter were ages 5 to 18 years.

“Essentially, this is still a young person’s disease,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Swine flu deaths were concentrated in young and middle-aged adults. A third of all deaths were people ages 25 through 49; another third were 50 to 64.

Only 12 percent of deaths occurred in elderly. That’s a stark contrast to the roughly 90 percent of deaths in the elderly from seasonal flu, Schuchat said at a Tuesday press conference.