“Until this point we have had very mild illness, but we are seeing an increase in flu in many parts of the city."
SHOOT: Local transmission has begun in Japan, hence the closing of 3000 schools there.
May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu claimed its first death in
New York and sickened more students in Japan as the number of
infections worldwide topped 8,000.
Mitchell Wiener, a 55-year-old assistant principal at
Intermediate School 238 in Hollis, Queens, died yesterday at
Flushing Hospital Medical Center, said Andrew Rubin, a hospital
spokesman. Wiener had swine flu and no other pre-existing
medical conditions that the hospital knows of, said Rubin in a
telephone interview today.
“Given the large number of cases, it’s possible that we’ll
see more severe cases in the next few days, particularly among
people with underlying illness,” said Jessica Scaperotti, a
spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene. Japan has 125 confirmed infections so far, Chief
Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said at a briefing in Tokyo
today.
Eleven schools in New York have been shut, Scaperotti said.
That’s up from six schools closed last week in efforts to
contain the virus |
No comments:
Post a Comment