U.S. & World

NEW YORK (AP) ― New York City was dealing with a growing public health threat Sunday after tests confirmed that eight students at a private Catholic high school had contracted swine flu. Some of the school's students had visited Mexico on a spring break trip two weeks ago.

New York officials previously had characterized the cases as probable, but Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that it was swine flu, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

About 100 students at St. Francis Preparatory School complained of flu-like symptoms; further tests will determine how many of those cases are swine flu.

Bloomberg stressed that the New York cases were mild and many are recovering, but said that parents of the students also had flu symptoms, "suggesting it is spreading person to person."

He said that the virus likely came from Mexico, although that has not officially been determined.

"We do know that some of the students from the school had a spring break in Mexico," Bloomberg said, surrounded by top city officials and members of Congress. "It is most likely to be brought back from Mexico, but nobody knows."

A Calif. elementary school will be shut down for several days while health officials investigate a suspected case of the deadly swine flu, which has sparked a nationwide health emergency.

Officials for the Sacramento County Department of Health said that St. Mel's School, which has students from kindergarten through the eighth grade, will be closed until Thursday at the earliest while officials try to confirm whether the teenage student contracted the disease.

A sample has been sent to the Center for Disease Control, but due to the heavy caseload of the outbreak, the results may not come back for a couple days.

Federal health officials said Sunday that 20 swine flu cases have been reported so far in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. Patients have ranged in age from 9 to over 50. At least two were hospitalized. All recovered or are recovering.

"As we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum of disease," predicted Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We're going to see more severe disease in this country."

At a White House news conference, Besser and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to assure Americans that health officials are taking all appropriate steps to minimize the impact of the outbreak.

Top among those is declaring the public health emergency. As part of that, Napolitano said roughly 12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it. Priority will be given to the five states with known cases so far: California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Kansas.

Napolitano called the emergency declaration standard operating procedure — one was declared recently for the inauguration and for flooding. She urged people to think of it as a "declaration of emergency preparedness."

"Really that's what we're doing right now. We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size of seriousness of this outbreak is going to be."

In Mexico, health officials say a strain of swine flu has killed up to 86 people and sickened 1,400.

The World Bank said Sunday that it was providing Mexico with more than $200 million in loans to help it deal with the outbreak of the swine flu.

Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens says $25 million will be used to address immediate needs. He says the remaining $180 million in loans will deal with long-term needs.

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said the bank is providing Mexican officials with information about how other nations have dealt with similar outbreaks of disease.

The bank held its spring meetings this weekend in Washington.

Meanwhile in New York, officials said the flu strain discovered in the patients here is similar to the one in Mexico, but not as severe at this point. They are still conducting tests to investigate the strain in New York.

St. Francis is the largest private Catholic high school in the nation, with 2,700 students. The school canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday in response to the outbreak.

Parent Jackie Casola said Sunday that her son Robert Arifo, a St. Francis sophomore, told her on Thursday that a number of children had been sent home because of illness. On Friday, he said hardly anyone was in school.

Casola said she expected to keep him home from school on Monday, even if it was open. He hasn't shown any symptoms, but some of his friends have, she said, and she has been extra vigilant about his health.

"I must have drove him crazy, I kept taking his temperature in the middle of the night," she said.

In New York, state infectious-diseases, epidemiology and disaster preparedness workers have been dispatched to monitor and respond to possible flu cases. Gov. David Paterson said 1,500 treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu had been sent to New York City.

The city health department has asked doctors to take extra precautions and test patients who have flu symptoms and have traveled recently to California, Texas or Mexico. Bloomberg and health officials also urged people to cover their noses and mouths when they sneeze and cough, and not to leave the house for two days after the symptoms disappear.

Investigators also tested children who fell ill at a day care center in the Bronx, but the tests came back negative. Two Manhattan families also have contacted the city, saying they had recently returned ill from Mexico with flu symptoms, New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said. Those cases were also found to not be swine flu.

Frieden said New Yorkers having trouble breathing due to an undiagnosed respiratory illness should seek treatment but shouldn't become overly alarmed. Medical facilities near St. Francis Prep have already been flooded with people overreacting to the outbreak, he said.

"The bottom line is there is an outbreak at St. Francis school and we are monitoring that outbreak very carefully," Bloomberg said.

In Ohio, state health officials said a 9-year-old boy who recently traveled to Mexico on vacation with his family has a confirmed case of swine flu and is recovering at his home. Officials do not know if the boy has the same strain linked to the deaths in Mexico, health department spokesman Robert Jennings said.

Kansas health officials said Saturday that they had confirmed swine flu in a married couple living in the central part of the state after the husband visited Mexico. The couple, who live in Dickinson County, weren't hospitalized, and the state described their illnesses as mild.

"Fortunately, the man and woman understand the gravity of the situation and are very willing to isolate themselves," said Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, the state health officer.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A flu viruses, the CDC's Web site says. Human cases are uncommon but can occur in people who are around pigs. It also can be spread from person to person. Symptoms include a high fever, body aches, coughing, sore throat and respiratory congestion.

At least nine swine flu cases have been reported in California and Texas. The most recent California case, the state's seventh, was a 35-year-old woman from Imperial County who got sick in early April. She had no known contact with the others.

Health officials are concerned because people appear to have no immunity to the virus, a combination of bird, swine and human influenzas. The virus also presents itself like other swine flus, but none of the U.S. cases appear to involve direct contact with pigs, Eberhart-Phillips said.

Latest Developments On Swine Flu Outbreaks:

• Deaths: 86, all in Mexico.

• Confirmed cases: About 1,400 in Mexico; 20 in U.S.; 4 in Canada.

• Suspected cases: 10 in New Zealand; 4 in France; 3 in Spain; 1 in Israel.

• Locations in Mexico: 17 states, including Mexico City, Mexico State, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Baja California and San Luis Potosi. Some, including Oaxaca, Mexico City and Baja California, have tourist areas, but authorities have not said where in these states the outbreaks occurred.

• Locations in U.S.: California, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Texas.

• Safety measures in Mexico: In Mexico City, surgical masks being given away on the subway system, public events canceled, schools and public venues closed and church services postponed. President Felipe Calderon has assumed new powers to isolate infected people.

• Safety measures in U.S: Roughly 12 million doses of Tamiflu being moved from federal stockpile to be delivered to states. Travelers at border being asked about travel to flu-stricken areas. St. Francis Preparatory School in New York, where eight cases are confirmed, will be closed Monday and Tuesday.

• Safety measures worldwide: Airports screening travelers from Mexico for flu symptoms. China, Russia and Taiwan plan to put anyone with symptoms under quarantine. Hong Kong and South Korea warn against travel to Mexican City and three provinces. Italy, Poland and Venezuela advised citizens to postpone travel to affected areas of Mexico and the United States.

More Information Online...
* CDC Swine Flu Facts Sheet
* CDC Emergency Updates Via Twitter
* Swine Flu Twitter Live Search Results
* David Burnia's Swine Flu Watch On Twitter
* Google Map Of Suspected, Confirmed Cases

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)