Esti Lamonaca’s illness started with a high fever, a cough, and achy bones, just a couple of days after she returned from a spring break trip on the beach in Cancun with friends.
By the weekend, her voice was hoarse and she was wearing a surgical mask.
The 18-year-old senior is one of at least eight students at her New York City high school who health officials say have been sickened by a strain of swine flu suspected in the deaths of 103 people in Mexico. It has now spread to the United States, where authorities have confirmed 20 cases.
However, all of those sickened in the U.S. have recovered or are recovering. That’s a stark difference from the lethal outbreak in Mexico that authorities can’t yet explain.
Officials at Lamonaca’s school, St. Francis Preparatory in Queens, learned that something was wrong there on April 23 when students started lining up at the nurse’s office complaining of fever, nausea, sore throats, and achy bones. It wasn’t long before the line was out the door.
The nurse notified the city Health Department that day. On Friday, more students were getting sick, and the department dispatched a team to the school at about 1:30 p.m. But they got caught in traffic and didn’t arrive until 3:30 p.m., just as classes were letting out for the weekend, said Brother Leonard Conway, the school’s principal.
By then, there were only a few students left, and health officials quickly tested them for swine flu. While only eight cases are confirmed, more than 100 students are suspected to have been infected. Officials think they started getting sick after some students returned from the spring break trip to Cancun.
Cleaning crews spent all day April 26 scrubbing down St. Francis, which will be closed for days.…Read More