Flu death toll jumps to 23 in New York City

The city health department didn't identify the victims or say when they died in an update posted on its web site Tuesday. It only said the victims were between the ages of 25 to 64 and most had been hospitalized late last month. City health officials said that at least 16 of the patients that died had established underlying risk factors for severe influenza or complications. New York has led the nation in deaths from the new virus since the outbreak began in late April. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday said there have been 45 flu deaths in the U.S., 13 of which were confirmed in New York, not including three additional fatalities reported Monday by city health officials. New York state health officials said Tuesday that 1,448 cases of A/H1N1 flu have been confirmed statewide. As of June 15, there were 35,928 confirmed cases and 163 confirmed deaths from A/H1N1 flu around the world,. More than half of the confirmed cases, as well as one third of the confirmed deaths, have been reported in the United States, according to the World Health Organization; Kazinform refers to Xinhua. See www.news.xinhuanet.com for full version.