Flu Hospitalizations On The Rise

New York health officials announced Thursday they are testing about 75 students at a Queens school after some students exhibited unusually virulent flu-like symptoms this week.

A team of state health department doctors and staff went to the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens on Thursday after the students reported cough, fever, sore throat, aches and debilitating pains. The test results should be known by Saturday.

Similar symptoms have been recently reported in other parts of New York, including one case that resulted in the hospitalization of three residents living in an apartment complex in Greenwich Village.

"It's late in the flu season for hospitalizations to be on the rise, but every season is different. We're taking steps accordingly," said acting CDC director Richard Jenkins. "This is not something to be concerned about."

Other officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not return calls for comment.

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