NEW YORK (AFP) — A teacher at a New York city school who had been in critical condition for days died after being infected with the A(H1N1) virus, local media reported.
The death of Mitchell Wiener, the assistant principal of Intermediate School 238 in Hollis, Queens, marked the first swine flu fatality in New York state, The New York Times reported.
Six swine flu deaths have now been reported in the United States, the country with the most A(H1N1) deaths after Mexico.
Meanwhile "city officials announced that five more ... schools (in the same area of the city) had been closed."
The paper said Wiener, 55, was "overwhelmed by the illness despite treatment with an experimental drug," citing Ole Pedersen, a spokesman for Flushing Hospital Medical Center, where Wiener had been a patient since Wednesday.
The World Health Organization said Friday that the disease is continuing to spread worldwide.
The latest WHO data showed 8,451 people in 38 countries confirmed to have caught the A(H1N1) virus.
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