NORWICH – Chenango County healthcare officials participated in a conference call with the New York State Department of Health Monday afternoon to discuss current recommendations concerning swine flu.

A team from Chenango Memorial Hospital, including Dr. Michael Trevisani, chief medical officer; Connie White, director of infection control; Johneen Loftus, laboratory manager and Ron Cerow, administrator at the Residential Healthcare Facility, along with Chenango County Department of Public Health officials attended.

“We, along with the Public Health Department, are working closely to monitor the situation and evaluate updates from the New York State Department of Health. This information will be passed along to the public,” said Trevisani.

At this time, no cases of swine flu have been reported in upstate New York.

The World Health Organization is calling the spread of swine flu a possible pandemic, assigning a threat level of 4, two levels below a full-scale pandemic.

Twenty-eight students at a parochial school in Queens have been diagnosed over the last two days with the virus. Some of those infected had recently returned from a trip to Mexico. Swine flu has also been found in the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, Israel and New Zealand and in several other states in America.