05/18/09 06:59 AM
Swine flu cases explode in Japan as school official dies in N. Y. City
By Eliane Engeler and Mari Yamaguchi
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA — Health experts are looking very closely at the spread of swine flu in Spain, Britain and Japan, a World Health Organization official said Sunday as Japan reported a one-day explosion to 92 cases, most of them among teenagers.
A hospital official, meanwhile, said an assistant school principal had become New York City’s first fatality linked to the swine flu virus.
Flushing Hospital Medical Center spokesman Andrew Rubin said Mitchell Wiener died Sunday evening. Wiener, who worked at an intermediate school in Queens, had been sick for nearly a week before his school was closed Thursday. He had been hospitalized and on a ventilator.
The city’s first outbreak of swine flu occurred three weeks ago, when about 700 students and 300 other people associated with a Catholic high school in Queens began falling ill after several students returned from vacations in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Officials announced the closing of five more schools in Queens, bringing New York City’s current total to 11. Health officials said four public schools and one Catholic school would close today for up to five school days.
Six other schools were closed over the last few days after hundreds of students became ill with suspected swine flu symptoms.
The swine flu epidemic is expected to dominate the WHO’s annual meeting, a five-day event that will begin today in Geneva and involve health officials from the agency’s 193 member states.
Sometime during the meeting, Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO’s director-general, will reveal experts’ recommendations on producing a swine flu vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies are ready to begin production, but many decisions first must be made — such as how much to make, how it should be distributed and who should get it.
As of Sunday, the swine flu virus — which WHO calls the A (H1N1) virus — has sickened at least 8,480 people in 40 countries. Seventy-six people, mostly in Mexico, have died.
Japan’s Health Ministry confirmed dozens of new cases, prompting school closings and events.
Swine flu cases explode in Japan as school official dies in N. Y. City
By Eliane Engeler and Mari Yamaguchi
ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA — Health experts are looking very closely at the spread of swine flu in Spain, Britain and Japan, a World Health Organization official said Sunday as Japan reported a one-day explosion to 92 cases, most of them among teenagers.
A hospital official, meanwhile, said an assistant school principal had become New York City’s first fatality linked to the swine flu virus.
Flushing Hospital Medical Center spokesman Andrew Rubin said Mitchell Wiener died Sunday evening. Wiener, who worked at an intermediate school in Queens, had been sick for nearly a week before his school was closed Thursday. He had been hospitalized and on a ventilator.
The city’s first outbreak of swine flu occurred three weeks ago, when about 700 students and 300 other people associated with a Catholic high school in Queens began falling ill after several students returned from vacations in Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.
Officials announced the closing of five more schools in Queens, bringing New York City’s current total to 11. Health officials said four public schools and one Catholic school would close today for up to five school days.
Six other schools were closed over the last few days after hundreds of students became ill with suspected swine flu symptoms.
The swine flu epidemic is expected to dominate the WHO’s annual meeting, a five-day event that will begin today in Geneva and involve health officials from the agency’s 193 member states.
Sometime during the meeting, Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO’s director-general, will reveal experts’ recommendations on producing a swine flu vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies are ready to begin production, but many decisions first must be made — such as how much to make, how it should be distributed and who should get it.
As of Sunday, the swine flu virus — which WHO calls the A (H1N1) virus — has sickened at least 8,480 people in 40 countries. Seventy-six people, mostly in Mexico, have died.
Japan’s Health Ministry confirmed dozens of new cases, prompting school closings and events.
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