H1N1 flu sends more African Americans, Hispanics to hospitals

The H1N1 virus was four times more likely to send African Americans and Hispanics to the hospital than whites, according to a study that offers one of the first looks at how the virus has affected different racial groups. The report echoes some unpublished information from Boston that found three out of four Bostonians hospitalized from the H1N1 flu were black or Hispanic. The cause for the difference more likely because blacks and Hispanics suffer disproportionately from asthma, diabetes, and other health problems that make people more vulnerable to the flu.