Mystery Illness Sends 6 to Hospital in New York

May 17, 2002
YONKERS, New York (CNN) -- One person was discharged Friday but two others remained in critical condition and three others were stable after they were found unconscious in their apartment in Yonkers, hospital officials said.

The cause of the illness remained unknown.

The six stricken adults appeared to have similar, unusual symptoms, said Joan Dupay, a spokeswoman for St. Joseph's Medical Center. Dupay declined to describe the symptoms.

After emergency medical service workers who took the victims to the hospital broke out in rashes, authorities shut the hospital and quarantined patients in the 194-bed facility for several hours, said Eugene Marron, a dispatcher for the Yonkers Police Department.

Dupay disputed Marron's assertion that the EMS workers developed rashes and said the emergency room was closed only "as a precaution."

After an investigation by the city department of health and others determined the cause of the victims' illnesses was not contagious, the emergency room was reopened around 10 p.m., she said.

But authorities still do not know the cause. "It appears to be something they ingested -- eaten or swallowed," she said, and not an airborne contaminant.

"There doesn't appear to be any risk to anybody at this time," she said.

The incident was reported at 6 p.m. in an apartment on the west side of Yonkers near the Bronx, Marron said.

The EMS workers were isolated, and the patients who were in the hospital were quarantined for several hours, said Dupay.

The FBI and New York City terrorist specialists are involved in the investigation, authorities said.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/17/yonkers.hospital/index.html