Dozens Of Seniors Mysteriously Sickened

Twenty-Four senior citizen residents of a Flushing assisted living home were taken to area hospitals Sunday night complaining of stomach pains, vomiting and nausea, according to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. An additional 47 inhabitants of Flushing House Club Residence for Adults at 38-20 Bowne Street were also taken ill with similar symptoms, but did not opt to go to the hospital.
"We want to assure the public that we are doing everything we can to safeguard the health and safety of our residents," said Robert Salant, a Flushing House spokesman. "As a precaution, we have suspended all planned activities and communal dining."
Salant characterized the residents symptoms as "flu-like," and added that the Health Department had visited Flushing House a few weeks before and provided flu shots to many of the residents. "Who got the flu shots, who didnt, and whos sick now, I dont know," he said, implying that the illness could be a sudden outbreak of the flu.
The Health Department conducted initial tests for infectious agents in the air of the building Sunday, and all came back negative, according to Greg Butler, a Health Department spokesman. He explained that tests on food samples taken from the facility could take much longer.
"We have started conducting interviews of people who are sick to learn whether there are any commonalities in what people ate over the past few days," he said, adding that so far, there was no evidence that pointed to an obvious source for the outbreak.
Butler said that samples of food have been taken from Flushing House, as have specimens from the sick people and facility employees. "To isolate a virus in a lab setting is a process that usually takes weeks," he explained. "As is customary in these situations, we investigate thoroughly and try to pinpoint the cause of the disease."
Butler added that to his knowledge, there had not been any other incidents of this kind at Flushing House.
The sick were taken to area hospitals including New York Hospital Queens. Most were able to walk to the ambulances that came to transport them.
Paul Picard, a spokesman for New York Hospital Queens, said that of about eight patients who came to that hospital, all were treated and released but one, who was still at the hospital under observation as of press time Tuesday.