More than 100 suspected swine flu cases at Queens school

More than 100 students at a Queens parochial school are suspected of being infected by the potentially lethal swine flu, with eight of those cases confirmed, health officials say.

The school, St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows, announced it will be closed Monday and Tuesday "because of the number of students with flu-like symptoms," according to the school's Web site.

While the swine flu is suspected in the deaths of at least 103 people in Mexico, health officials say of the 20 confirmed cases in the United States all those sickened have recovered or are in the process of recovering.

Nassau officials said they have one suspected case and test results for eight Suffolk residents were negative.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Sunday declared a national public health emergency to help federal and local agencies prepare for the possibility of more swine flu cases.

One of the confirmed cases involved Esti Lamonaca, 18, of Forest Hills, a senior at St. Francis Prep, health officials told The Associated Press.

Lamonaca said she began feeling ill two days after she and 11 friends returned from a spring break trek to Cancun, Mexico.

She said she had been unaware of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico until friends called her Friday afternoon to tell her - and she then went on the Internet and realized she had the symptoms.

She told Newsday officials at North Shore- Long Island Jewish Hospital said she "probably" had swine flu.

"I never had such a high fever - 103," Lamonaca said. "That was scary."

Late last week students began overwhelming the nurse's office at St. Francis Prep, complaining of fever, nausea, sore throats and achy bones. The nurse notified the New York City Health Department - and when more students reported being sick Friday, the health department dispatched a team to the school.

Officials said that team got caught in traffic and didn't arrive at St. Francis until 3:30 p.m., just as classes were being dismissed for the weekend.

Brother Leonard Conway, principal of St. Francis, said only a handful of students were still around and that eight of them promptly tested positive.

But more than 100 students are suspected to have the swine flu at St. Francis, officials told The Associated Press.

Many of those infected had recently visited Mexico.

Nassau Health Commissioner Maria Torroella Carney said the county's suspected case involves a person who had traveled to Mexico recently and had mild symptoms.

Tests on flu swabs for eight Suffolk residents returned from the state lab in Albany negative for the swine flu, officials said.

In response to the outbreak, roughly 12 million doses of the antiviral drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to where states can quickly get it, Napolitano said.

Meanwhile, cleaning crews spent Sunday scrubbing down the building at St. Francis.

"I haven't been out of my house since Wednesday and am just hoping to make a full recovery soon," Lamonaca told The Associated Press. "I am glad school is closed because it supposedly is very contagious, and I don't want this to spread like it has in Mexico."

Some schools in Texas, California and Ohio also were closing after students were found or suspected to have the flu.

The outbreak has people on edge across the country.

Officials along the U.S.-Mexico border asked health care providers to take respiratory samples from patients who appear to have the flu. Travelers were being asked if they visited flu-stricken areas.

The St. Francis Prep Web site is asking faculty - as well as students - to take a "Flu Survey."

By JOHN VALENTI |
Posted Monday, April 27, 2009

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