Prison Outbreak? 4 More Have Swine Flu At Rikers

Bloomberg Confirms Latest Cases, Says 4 Others Are Probable For Virus

QUEENS (CBS) ―Four inmates at Rikers Island have been confirmed to have the swine flu and four more are considered probable for the virus, Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed Tuesday morning.

“Correction and health officials are monitoring the situation and preparing to implement additional health screening and where needed, isolation of ill inmates,” Bloomberg said. “It is in some senses easier to control because obviously the prisoners can’t leave on the other hand, it is also a confined area where we really don’t have the choice of moving people out and asking them to stay home.”

Corrections Officers’ Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook has suggestd since Friday that inmates and staff from the Ann M. Kross Center, as well as the North Infirmary Command, be transferred to other jails until the city completes a full investigation. Seabrook has called on the city to immediately close any facilities where swine flu has been discovered so they can be thoroughly cleaned.

“The entire facility needs to be decontaminated … just like any other facility under the watch of the mayor,” said Seabrook, after a Rikers Island inmate was first hospitalized on Wednesday.

The inmate, whose name and reason for being in custody weren’t released, was improving since his hospitalization and wasn’t in serious condition, Department of Correction spokesman Stephen Morello said.

The inmate entered the 2,600-inmate Anna M. Kross Center about a month ago and complained of cough and fever, Morello said. He was transferred to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens and on Friday was diagnosed with a probable case of swine flu, Morello said.

Meanwhile the number of New York City schools ordered closed amid rapidly growing fears of swine flu has grown to 17 after the Health Department annouced four more schools will shut down and two Manhattan private schools said it would be closing its doors as well.

Symptoms of the swine flu include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting as well. Anyone experiencing severe symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, should seek health care and treatment. The best way to prevent additional cases of flu in schools is to stay home when sick, cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing, and wash hands frequently.

For those who are ill, the recommendation is to stay home until they are symptom-free for at least 24 hours.

Eating pork or pork products cannot spread the swine flu.

Posted on Tue, May. 19, 2009

St. Louis County man with swine flu dies

By BETSY TAYLOR
The Associated Press
CLAYTON, Mo. | A 44-year-old St. Louis County man diagnosed with swine flu after traveling to Mexico died Tuesday, state and county health officials said.

The man’s name was not released. He died Tuesday morning at an undisclosed St. Louis area hospital.

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services spokesman Kit Wagar said the man had a confirmed case of swine flu. But an autopsy and further testing is necessary to determine if the illness killed him or if another underlying illness caused his death, health officials said.

“It’s an unusual case in what otherwise appeared to be a healthy individual,” said St. Louis County health director, Dr. Dolores Gunn.

She said it could be several weeks before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms the cause of death.

State and county health officials said the man traveled to Mexico last month, then became ill after returning home. He went to his doctor, then to an urgent care center about a week later on May 9, then to the hospital. He was being treated with anti-viral medication, Gunn said.

“We’re asking residents to remain cautious, but not alarmed,” she said. She repeated the importance of good hygiene, like thorough hand-washing and covering up a cough to prevent the spread of illnesses.

If swine flu is confirmed as the cause of death, the man would be the first person in Missouri to die during the current outbreak of the disease. Five people in the U.S. have died, and another U.S. death is being investigated for swine flu.

Missouri has reported 20 cases of swine flu. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 47 states plus the District of Columbia have a combined 5,123 confirmed and probable cases of swine flu. And the World Health Organization said 40 countries have reported more than 9,830 cases, mostly in the U.S. and Mexico.

Global deaths before the St. Louis County case were at 80 — 72 in Mexico, six in the U.S., one each in Canada and Costa Rica.