Eight Queens Teens Appear to Have Swine Flu [Update]

Photo taken in Mexico City where 61 have died by Miguel Tovar/AP

The Health Department is conducting tests to determine whether swine flu has found its way into our area after 75 students at a Queens high school turned up sick with potential symptoms for the virus. Students from St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows are being tested after dozens have reported nausea, fever, dizzyness, aches and pains. One student told NY1, "My chest is really tight, it feels like a 20-pound baby is sitting on my chest. I have shortness of breath, I can't even walk up the steps, and as you can hear I'm stuffy and my coughing is getting really bad."

There are no confirmed cases of swine flu in the city and initial results from the first students tested are said to be coming back negative. Concerns about the potential of an outbreak at St. Francis Prep have arisen since some students had just visited Mexico over Spring Break.

In Mexico City, 61 people have already died as a result of swine flu. Schools have been closed, museums shut down and residents urged to avoid hospitals if they are not suffering from serious conditions. A Center for Disease Control spokesman said, "We are very, very concerned. We have what appears to be a novel virus, and it has spread from human to human. It's all hands on deck at the moment."

Health Department officials will be sanitizing St. Francis Prep over the weekend. They said that they are implementing "enhanced citywide influenza surveillance" to identify any possible cases that may develop. Here is a CDC FAQ addressing key facts regarding swine flu.

Updated 6 p.m.: Eight students from St. Francis Prep appear to have tested positive for swine flu, though authorities are yet to confirm if it is the same strain that has wreaked havoc in Mexico. The total number of students reporting that they are sick is now over 100. Thus far, all of the Queens high schoolers symptoms have been mild.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Billy Parker in News on April 25, 2009 6:15 PM

Comments [rss]

sexisicilian

I do not care where you come from: when you cough, sneeze, etc. COVER YOUR MOUTH. I am sick of having to tell grown adults to cover thier F--KIN MOUTHS!!

Thank you.

longacre

President Obama himself may have it!

According to a Bloomberg story, Felipe Solis, a distinguished archaeologist, greeted Obama at a museum in Mexico City last week...and died from flu-like symptoms the next day.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEsNownABJ6Q&refer=worldwide

Given the large number of flights between New York and Mexico, it's safe to say this thing is well established here already, and may have spread to London as well.

schadenfreudian mensch

If it reached London then Scotland will have to be walled off from the rest of the country and just let the epidemic run it's course killing everyone whose susceptible. They may have to send Rhona Mitra into London at a later date to get a cure if there is one.

longacre

I am willing to take some swine flu if it means Rhona Mitra comes to my rescue.

Rocknrope

Right At Your Door.

schadenfreudian mensch

The movie wasn't too bad.

SeasTooFarToReach

MSNBC says 8 students tested positive for the flu! :/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30398682/

Is this has indeed hit the city what can you possibly do to avoid getting potentially sick? I often wash my hands all day long, but judging from the alarming images of people walking with face masks in Mexico, and health officials handing them out to the public, what can one possibly do against something airborne?

nyrangers

keep eating meat people- it's killing you and everyone else AND of course the animal you're eating

Large studies showed that vegetarians were about 40 percent less likely to develop cancer compared to meat eaters. See link-

http://www.cancerproject.org/survival/cancer_facts/meat.php

MrCow

Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products.

Amanda Harletsch

The option of becoming vegan is open to all in deed.

But the disease IN CASE has to little with the intake of meat, as much as it has to do with farming in industrial quantities animals. The dirty and confined conditions millions of animals are grown for human consumption and promote these beings' health are going to ultimately affect the end consumer: humans.

If you don't see any value in improving the ethical standards on the treatment of animals, just do it for your survival. Same goes for keeping the ecosystems healthy...Is not for "suckers" it is for human survival.

The Edge

A grand idea! Now how are you going to convert those pesky carnivore animals to become fruity vegans like yourself as well?!?

For me, I'm going to help reduce excess carbon footprint by eating even MORE meat! Hurrah!

Son of Spam

There are no confirmed cases of swine flu in the city and initial results from the first students tested are said to be coming back negative. Still a Center for Disease Control spokesman said, "We are very, very concerned. We have what appears to be a novel virus, and it has spread from human to human. It's all hands on deck at the moment."

I try not to be a gothamist nitpicker about spelling and grammar, but this paragraph is extraordinarily misleading.

The CDC spokesman is talking about the situation in Mexico, not the students in queens. You're applying quotes from one story, albeit related, to a totally separate story.

This story makes much more sense if the word "Still" was removed and the last sentences of the second and third paragraphs were swapped:

There are no confirmed cases of swine flu in the city and initial results from the first students tested are said to be coming back negative. Some concerns about the potential of an outbreak at St. Francis Prep have arisen since some students had just visited Mexico over Spring Break.

In Mexico City, 61 people have already died as a result of swine flu. Schools have been closed, museums shut down and residents urged to avoid hospitals if they are not suffering from serious conditions. A Center for Disease Control spokesman said, "We are very, very concerned. We have what appears to be a novel virus, and it has spread from human to human. It's all hands on deck at the moment."

BillyParker

Totally valid and corrected. Mistook the CDC quote in the Post article to be about the situation in Queens.

Splicer

Here's a novel idea for people living in this city: How about covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze? What an incredible revelation that is!

Oh, and to certain ethnicities that live in northeastern Queens, please refrain from spitting in the street or wherever you happen to be including the hallways or stairwell of a building. I know things are a little different from where you come from but you're here now so kindly leave your savage habits in the Old Country.

Amanda Harletsch

"to certain ethnicities" really? I have never seen some people do it more than others here in NYC...I see men of all sizes and colors spiting from right to left, left to right. So elegant!So proud!

Novanglus

Honestly, it's true. Take a walk through Flushing on any given day and you'll see people firing snot-rockets left and right, mothers allowing their 5-year-olds to pee on the curb, people not covering their mouths, the works.

Queens, the most diverse county in the US, is the worst place to have such a disease.