As the number of cases of swine flu continues to rise and the first U.S. death from the illness is being reported in Texas, local health officials are reminding New Yorkers that all of the city cases are no worse than a typical flu.

Four city schools are currently closed due to fears of flu contagion.

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Diocese says Good Shepherd School in Marine Park and St. Brigid School in Bushwick will be closed for the rest of the week.

Doctors are currently watching 10 students, including one whose sibling attends St. Francis Prep in Queens, seen above, where the city’s outbreak seems to be centered.

St. Francis Prep is also closed until at least Monday, as well as neighboring P.S. 177 in Queens.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says tests on students from P.S. 177 are underway and that the Department of Education is watching the situation very closely.

“We haven’t this morning heard about other schools where there are significant illnesses, so that’s where we stand,” said Klein.

City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said this afternoon that there are now 49 confirmed cases of swine flu in the city. Another two probable city cases are being tested by the CDC.

All confirmed swine flu cases have either associations with St. Francis Prep or travel to Mexico, and none have been more severe than seasonal flu.

Frieden urged students at the Queens Catholic school to complete a questionnaire so the city Health Department can better understand the outbreak.

He dispelled rumors about clusters and outbreaks throughout the city, saying that emergency rooms are seeing an influx of worried people who think they might be infected.

“Nothing about this incident should make anyone more likely to go to the hospital. If however you feel really sick, you’re having trouble breathing, you have an underlying problem like diabetes and you’re sick, by all means, seek medical care,” said Frieden.

Officials are stressing the bug is no worse than the typical flu and that New Yorkers should take precautions, such as washing hands frequently and covering their mouth when they cough.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and newly-confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also held a press conference this afternoon, where they praised the city Health Department’s treatment of the St. Francis Prep outbreak as “phenomenal.”

They also noted that the National Institutes of Health researchers are working on a swine flu vaccine, but that results could take months.

Earlier today, the CDC also announced that the first U.S. death from swine flu was a 23-month-old boy from Mexico City who was visiting family in Texas. Hospital staff say he was suffering from “acute respiratory illness” and state health officials told the Associated Press that none of his close contacts developed symptoms.

“As I’ve been saying for the past few days, flu is a very serious infection and each virus is unique,” said Acting CDC Director Richard Besser. “Though it’s hard to know what we’re going to be seeing. But given what we’ve seen in Mexico, we have expected that we would see more severe infections and we would see deaths.”

Napolitano said that the outbreak has been far less severe than an average seasonal flu epidemic, which kills about 36,000 nationwide each year.

At a news briefing this afternoon, Governor David Paterson and state health officials said there are three other probable swine flu cases in Orange, Cortland and Suffolk Counties. Another 75 cases across New York State are also under investigation.

The governor says preparing for the worst is the best way to prevent the worst from happening.

“All precautions are being taken. We are treating this and have been for the last week as if this is a virus that would spread and we are preparing ourselves for the worst-case scenario but at the same time we have not identified anyone who was healthy who has become critically ill as a result of this virus,” said Paterson.

The government says the first shipments from the federal stockpile of Tamiflu have arrived at medical centers across the city and state.

Officials are also investigating a third cluster at Ascension High School on 108th Street in Manhattan.

Over the weekend a student became sick and went to the doctor; six other students were sent home yesterday. However, there are no confirmed cases of swine flu.

The school remains open today and the New York Archdiocese says the school is safe for students and teachers.

“I think hopefully people will hear and there will be level heads and things will calm down,” said the Reverend John Duffell of Ascension High.

Some families, however, kept their children home from school today.

“I decided to take her home because of the 21 kids in her class, there are only three or four there,” said Clotilde Aponte, a grandparent of an Ascension High student.

There are now 91 confirmed cases of swine flu in the United States in 10 states, including Massachusetts, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Indiana. Most of those cases have been mild.

“Schools with confirmed or suspected cases should consider closing so we can be as safe as possible,” said President Barack Obama today. “If the situation becomes more serious and we have to take more extensive steps, parents should think about contingencies if schools in their area shut down.”

The CDC says that there is no shortage of flu medication. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in additional funds yesterday to help build drug stockpiles, monitor future cases and aid efforts to combat the outbreak globally.

With the first death occurring in the United States, homeland security officials say closing the border with Mexico won’t help contain the virus.

The World Health Organization says the outbreak is showing no signs of slowing down, and the agency is closer to raising its pandemic alert to phase 5 on the 6-phase scale.

Germany and Austria have confirmed cases of swine flu – the third and fourth European country where cases have surfaced.

Three cases have been reported in German, along with a single case in Austria.

Cases have also been reported in Britain and Spain. New Zealand has also confirmed 14 cases with 44 possible cases.

Swine flu has also been detected in Canada, Israel and Scotland.

Both Argentina and Cuba have banned flights from Mexico, while Cuba is also banning outgoing flights to the country.

All schools in Mexico are closed for at least a week and officials have closed most public places.

More than 150 people are now suspected to have died from the swine flu in that country and more than a thousand are believed to have been infected.

Mexican health officials believe a five-year-old boy may be patient zero for the swine flu outbreak.

Edgar Hernandez has recovered from the earliest documented case of swine flu. He lives in La Gloria, Mexico, where a flu outbreak began about a month ago.

Pig farms surround the small mountain village where he lives.

Source: NY1