Richard Besser, M.D., Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, answered questions from the press earlier today. Here are the latest updates.

• There are 1,823 probable and confirmed cases in 44 states. This is an increase of around 330 cases from yesterday.
  
• The CDC we will be moving to a system of reporting much more in line with the seasonal flu, focusing on flu activity, rather than individual case numbers. Expect to hear phrases like, "widespread activity" for a particular locale, and "limited activity," or "isolated activity," rather than case totals in coming weeks.
  
• The CDC is looking at developing a new rapid diagnostic test for swine flu.

Asked about the phenomenon of swine flu parties for children to provide "protection" in case the virus becomes more dangerous in the fall, Besser said: "I think that having swine flu H1N1 parties is a big mistake. This is the new emerging infection. And we're learning more each day. But how an individual person will be impacted by the infection is not something we know."

--Kevin McCarthy, associate editor

Keep up to date with our swine-flu coverage and recommendations.