Boy's Death Not Swine Flu, But Tensions Still High

May 19, 2008— -- Even as New York City health officials said the death of a 16-month-old toddler who had flu like symptoms did not have swine flu, the number of schools closed in the city because of the virus rose again.

As of this evening, there were 25 schools closed in the city, an increase of nine over Monday's count, and another school in New Jersey was shut down because of tensions about the new virus.

Jonathan Zamora, of Corona, Queens, was admitted to Elmhurst Hospital Center Monday night around 9:30 with a high fever and "severe flulike symptoms," according to a Tuesday morning announcement by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Officials at Elmhurst Hospital Center told The Associated Press that the boy died an hour after being admitted, but tonight officials said the boy appears not to have had H1N1 swine flu infection.

New York City has conducted tests that did not indicate that H1N1 swine flu was the cause of death, but a tissue sample has been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to confirm their results.

Bloomberg also said today that the flu is spreading at the Rikers Island prison complex, including four confirmed and four more probable cases. The jail can't be closed, but authorities are taking steps to contain the outbreak, he said.

The new tensions about the outbreak come just two days after the city's first confirmed death of a patient with swine flu. Meanwhile, amid a new cluster of school closings and revived discussions about whether the World Health Organization should raise the pandemic alert to the highest level, there is a new level of concern about the still mysterious swine flu virus.

On Monday, New York City officials closed 16 schools after 103 students in four schools came down with influenza-like symptoms in the past week. Late Sunday, 55-year-old assistant principal Mitchell Wiener died from complications of the swine flu he likely contracted in an outbreak at his school.

Wiener's untimely death was the sixth in the United States that has been linked to swine flu.