At N.Y. school, swine flu 'probable' in 8 students

Health officials reported yesterday that at least eight students at a private high school in New York City had "probable" swine flu, and confirmed three new cases - two in Kansas and one in California - bringing the number of confirmed U.S. cases to 11.

In New York City, about 200 of the 2,700 students attending St. Francis Preparatory High School in Queens had missed school earlier in the week because of flulike symptoms, prompting school officials to notify the Health Department.

Yesterday, a preliminary analysis of viral samples obtained from nose and throat swabs from nine affected students found that eight tested positive for influenza A.

Because none matched the known H1 and H3 subtypes of human flu, they were considered "probable" cases of swine flu, said Thomas Frieden, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

"We're concerned," Frieden said. "When we see the serious cases in Mexico, and we see it spreading fairly rapid in one school. It's a situation that has to be monitored very carefully."

The St. Francis students had just returned from spring break, during which time some may have traveled to Mexico, he said.

The director-general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, said the "situation is evolving quickly." But she cautioned: "We do not yet have a complete picture of the epidemiology or the risk, including possible spread beyond the currently affected areas."

So far, all of the confirmed cases in the Southwestern United States - seven in California and two in Texas - have been relatively mild. Only one patient has been hospitalized, and there have been no deaths, giving officials hope that the situation may not be dire as in Mexico.

Late yesterday, state health officials in Kansas said the CDC had confirmed two cases of swine flu involving two adults who lived in the same house.

Neither was hospitalized, but one was still ill and undergoing treatment, officials said. One had recently traveled to Mexico, they said.

The CDC has dispatched teams to Southern California to help state and local officials, and plans to send another to Texas. The agency is also analyzing samples from other suspected cases, and taking steps that would be needed to produce a vaccine if necessary.

"We're trying to take action early before things get worse," said Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for science and public health. "We are worried, and because we're worried, we're acting aggressively on a number of fronts."

The problem in identifying swine flu is that its symptoms are virtually indistinguishable from those of regular influenza, Schuchat said. The only way to be sure an infection is swine flu is through a laboratory test, which takes time.

Officials noted that the new virus is susceptible to two of the four antiviral drugs available and that both Mexico and the United States have ample stocks of the drugs.

CDC officials have prepared a seed stock of the virus that could be used in the manufacture of a vaccine, but they said that it was premature to send it to pharmaceutical companies. Preparing a new vaccine would require several months, at best.