A preparatory school in Fresh Meadows in New York remained closed as health officials confirmed Tuesday that 17 more students have the deadly swine flu, bringing the total of cases in the city to 45, the largest in the United States.

Some Fresh Meadows residents, including Filipina nurse Marylou Cadiz, said they have become concerned with the number of swine flu cases in St. Francis Preparatory School, where there are a handful of Filipino students.

"We advise people to watch out," Cadiz told ABS-CBN North America News Bureau. She said no Filipino students has been infected by the virus.

Health officials in New York City on Tuesday morning began investigating reports of people with flu symptoms, including students in a special education school, which is a few blocks away from the St. Francis school.

Filipina physical therapist, Shirley Doctor, said a daughter of one of the speech therapists is among those students at the St. Francis school believed to have been infected by the swine flu virus.

"Actually, what they say is just a possible case, not confirmed yet. We are taking all the precautions that is necessary. So everything is normal. We are doing all the normal things in school," Doctor said.

President Barack Obama has asked the US congress for an additional $1.5 billion to fight swine flu, after the caseload jumped to 65 people across six states.

Lawmakers convened an emergency hearing on Capitol Hill to assess the government's preparedness for a more severe outbreak.

"With a new infectious agent you don't sit back and wait and hope for the best. You take bold steps, and then you pull back if you need to," Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news briefing.

The CDC total included 10 cases in California, two in Kansas, 45 in New York, one in Ohio and six in Texas. An additional case was reported by Indiana state authorities.

While the new flu strain has killed up to 149 people in Mexico, cases seen in the United States and elsewhere have been mild. CDC officials said only five US cases have required hospitalization, but they have said they expect more serious cases -- and possibly deaths -- as surveillance expands. With reports from Lenn Almadin-Thornhill, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau; Reuters