A nursing assistant from Mount Kisco was taken to the hospital Wednesday to be tested for the swine flu virus after recently returning from a trip to Mexico.

Health officials have yet to determine whether the strain of flu she contracted is swine flu. Some of the woman's colleagues at Valley View Nursing Home, which employs about 500 people, and many of its 350 patients, will be offered Tamiflu, a prescription influenza medicine.

"It's all a precaution, after the nursing assistant came down with what could be Orange County's first case of swine flu," says Orange County Health Commissioner Jean Hudson.

Hudson says the Valley View nursing assistant is feeling better and is quarantined with her family at home.

As the swine flu virus continued to spread Wednesday, the World Health Organization raised its pandemic flu alert to phase 5, its second highest level, signaling that it believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says at least 51 cases have been confirmed in New York, most at St. Francis Preparatory School in New York City.

A 23-month-old toddler in Texas has been confirmed as the first swine flu death in the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says there are currently at least 91 confirmed cases in the United States.

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For Gov. Paterson's swine flu press conference, go to your digital cable box and select iO Extra, Ch. 612.