BY GEMMA BROSNAN – IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK is battling to control swine flu, with hundreds of confirmed or suspected cases, mostly among students.

Four schools - two in Brooklyn and two in Queens – have been forced to close for the rest of this week to prevent any further spread of this new variant of influenza, but with only one reported US death attributed to swine flu, notoriously tough New Yorkers are brushing aside their fears and carrying on business as per usual.

Yesterday, New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, warned New Yorkers that swine flu is expected to spread around the city and tests by the Centers for Disease Control are expected to confirm many more cases.

Bloomberg tried to calm residents by suggesting he was hopeful that there is unlikely to be any more deaths with this strain than with other types of flu, but urged those with symptoms, to stay at home.

“From what we know now, swine flu seems to spread similarly to seasonal garden-variety flu, that we regularly see in our city and we have no reason at the moment from what we have seen here to believe its symptoms are any more severe. Almost every case has been very mild...and the process of going from catching it to noticeably getting better, has been in a few days, very quick."

Long Islander businessman, Frankie Bitonti, 52, shrugged off suggestions of an immediate threat: “You think New Yorkers can get swine flu? No way. What are you talking about? A true New Yorker can’t get it so I have nothing to worry about.”

However, Manhattan postal worker Henry Walker, 57, was far more concerned and much closer to the problem: “I have to go into many buildings and deal with a lot of different people, so if I see people sneezing or coughing, I’m out of there as a precaution. I ride the train which is crowded, so I try and avoid people if they look ill and go to the next car.”

He also expressed concern about a colleague he had seen with flu-like symptoms at work on Monday who had not been back since: “When I went to the freight on 450, 7th Avenue, I saw this guy holding a tissue to his face, coughing and spluttering with his eyes all red. He didn’t look good and it didn’t look like just a regular cold, his eyes and nose look so bad and I didn’t have time to talk to him so I went to check in with him today, but I was told he hasn’t been back. I don’t know if it is anything to do with swine flu but it scared the hell out of me and I really hope the guy is ok.”

Students are taking advantage of the spring sunshine and doing their homework in Central Park, with their parents left to worry for their safety and the cleaners brought in to blitz the building.

One student, Sally Feinberg said: "We have been given masks, but no one is really wearing them. I think people are embarrassed to show that they are afraid and are just treating it like regular flu instead, which is only going to increase the chance of an epidemic because nobody knows how bad it is.”

New York health officials are also investigating 30 reported cases of possible flu at a day-care centre in the Bronx and have received several calls from people in Manhattan who said they became ill after travelling to Mexico.

Previously, the last case of swine flu near New York was in 1976 in Fort Dix, New Jersey and with the right genetic composition, a new, deadly flu virus can spread rapidly through human communities, such as with The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 which spread around the world, killing about 50 million people.