The assistant principal of a school in Queens, New York, who had been hospitalized with H1N1, died on Sunday evening. It was the first death in New York State from the outbreak, according to a report available on New York Times website.

The assistant principal, Mitchell Wiener, 55, had been reportedly "overwhelmed" by the illness despite treatment with an experimental drug, the report quotes Ole Pedersen, a spokesman for Flushing Hospital Medical Center, where Mr. Wiener had been a patient since last Wednesday.

Pedersen was cited as saying that Wiener, the assistant principal of Intermediate School 238 in Hollis, one of the schools closed last week, had been on a ventilator and had slipped in and out of consciousness during his illness.

Officials said that he might have had some health problems. His family said that he had suffered from gout but that it was under control with medication, says the report.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2009)