New York City – The Health Department today announced that four days of close monitoring has yet to show any increase in reports of severe respiratory illness in New York City. The agency is investigating a cluster of illness at the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens, where 100 students missed classes because of flu-like illness last week.
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Daily calls with hospitals and monitoring of admissions have yet to suggest a wider or more severe outbreak.
As part of the investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today confirmed swine flu in an additional 20 people associated with the St. Francis Preparatory School. All of the patients of suffered only minor illness. None have required hospitalization, and nearly all are already improving. The total number of cases in New York City now stands at 28.
The Health Department has also identified 17 more probable cases within the St. Francis school cluster. Nasal swabs from those patients are undergoing confirmatory testing at the CDC. A similar virus has recently caused deaths in Mexico, but there are no severely ill people in New York City with suspected swine influenza. All of the U.S. patients have fully recovered or are recovering.
The Health Department is closely monitoring health trends in New York City for evidence of a wider outbreak. Agency officials are also speaking regularly with all hospitals in New York City, and the agency’s syndromic surveillance system is monitoring numerous indicators, such as hospital admissions and emergency department visits, for increases flu-like illness. Moderate increases were observed over the weekend, but their significance is unknown.
The Health Department is issuing frequent health alerts to physicians holding conference calls with New York City hospitals. The agency is also disseminating information through its website (health.nyc.gov) to address public questions and concerns. Information is available online.