Disease Center: Up To 17,000 Americans Killed by Swine Flu

The H1N1 virus, known as "swine flu," has killed as many as 17,000 Americans, including up to 1,800 children, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said that between 41 million and 84 million cases of H1N1 occurred during the 2009 pandemic, Reuters reported.

Children and younger adults were most seriously affected, researchers said.

From April 2009 to January of this year, between 183,000 and 378,000 people were hospitalized with swine flu, the CDC estimated.

Globally, accurate estimates of swine flu infection are hard to come by. The CDC and the World Health Organization stopped trying to count actual cases once it became clear that H1N1 was a pandemic that would infect millions.

Before the count was halted, the WHO said that at least 15,292 people had died in 212 countries and territories.