Many schools have been closing due to the outbreak of the swine flu in the past month. Many of the school closings have been happening in Queens, New York with a total of 30 closed schools. Parents have been flooding hospitals with their children when any flu like symptom pops up. Officials are trying to exercise caution by shutting down more and more schools.

Swine flu surfaced last month at a Queens school which had 69 confirmed cases. The virus has emerged again since then leading 24 schools to close this week alone. New York City has had approximately 201 confirmed cases since the outbreak of the virus with one confirmed death.

Due to the swine flu outbreak, there have been a 20% increase in emergency room visits by adults and a 50% increase by children. Mayor Bloomberg states that. “While there are an abnormal number of people going to the hospital, who are worried, virtually none, a very tiny percentage of them have any symptoms whatsoever.”

A 2 year old boy visiting from Mexico was the first to die in the United States due to the outbreak of the swine flu. The toddler had flown to Matamoros, Mexico from Mexico City on April 3^rd with his mother and siblings and proceeded to cross the border into Brownsville, Texas to visit an aunt. On April 8, the child came down with a fever and was confirmed to be suffering from the swine flu early last Wednesday and died this past Monday.

Many Texas schools were shut down this week due to the swine flu outbreak as well as several California state schools. There are officially 14 confirmed swine flu cases in California but no deaths. “While swine flu patients in California have had only mild to moderate illness, strong action is needed by every single one of us to limit the spread of the virus and minimize the impact on people’s health,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said. The cases in California include 7 in San Diego County, 5 in Imperial County, 1 in Sacramento County, and 1 in San Bernardino County.

An interactive map on the Wall Street Journal website allows you to see the cases of swine flu around the world. In the United States alone, there have been over 90 cases including 51 in New York city with a majority affecting students and faculty of a school in Queens. Around the world there have been approximately 26 confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu in New Zealand, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., Austria, and Israel. To view the interactive map, please visit the Wall Street Journal website.

Recently the swine flu has been spreading throughout Mexico and the United States.

What is swine flu? The swine influenza virus, or SIV, is a contagious respiratory disease that affects pigs. Symptoms can include fever, disorientation, stiffness of the joints, vomiting, and even death. The human case of swine influenza A, or H1N1, can be passed through people who work with poultry and swine. The 2009 swine influenza outbreak appears to be a result of reassortment and zoonosis. Zoonosis is the transmission of any infection disease from other animals to humans. Reassortment is the mixing of the genetic material of two similar viruses that are infecting the same cell.

The outbreak was detected in three areas of Mexico, as well as the United States, Canada, and Spain and over 1,800 cases have been found. There are some standard personal precautions against the swine flu. This includes:

• Frequent washing of hands with soap and water
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands
• Make sure you cough into tissues and dispose of the tissue immediately

If you have contracted the swine flu, contact a healthcare professional immediately. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the use of antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu or Relenza. These antiviral drugs help fight against the flu by keeping the virus from reproducing in the body.