Baby of swine flu victim dies as Scotland confirms 71 further cases

Published on Monday 15 June 2009 22:47

THE prematurely born son of Jacqueline Fleming, the first Briton to die from swine flu, lost his own fight for life last night.

Baby Jack, who was born 11 weeks early on 1 June, died in the special care baby unit at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. An NHS spokesman said he did not die from swine flu.

In a statement, William McCann, the partner of Ms Fleming, who died in hospital on Sunday, said: "(Jack] suffered from a number of complications, and despite his brave fight, he passed away at the special care baby unit.

"Coming so soon after the death of his mum, this is an extremely distressing and difficult time for our family."

It emerged yesterday that Ms Fleming died before she could even cuddle her baby.

According to reports, she had been unconscious throughout the birth and had never had a chance to see the tiny boy who weighed just over 3lb.

Yesterday, the number of swine flu cases in Scotland continued to rise, with 71 people diagnosed in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.

But, despite the growing number of people affected and Ms Fleming's death – the first swine flu fatality outside the Americas – the Scottish Government insisted that the risk to the public remained low.

Ms Fleming, 38, had underlying health conditions which can lead to serious complications if a sufferer catches flu.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said there were no new laboratory-confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in Scotland, but NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was now in some cases diagnosing patients on the basis of their symptoms without lab confirmation.

This meant they had clinically diagnosed 71 new cases on top of the 498 confirmed by lab tests already in Scotland. A further 464 possible cases are also being investigated and nine patients remain in hospital with the virus.

Ms Sturgeon said: "NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will assess the effectiveness of this approach over the next week.

"I would reiterate that the risk to the general public remains low."

She added: "The death of baby Jack, especially coming so soon after the death of his mother, is a tragedy, and I extend my deepest condolences to their family and friends for this unimaginably painful loss."

Ms Fleming gave birth at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley two weeks ago. She lived with her two other children – one aged 18 and the other 11 – and her long-term partner.

A school close to Ms Fleming's home was partially closed last week after a child tested positive for swine flu.

Primary year five and six pupils at St Vincent's Primary School were told to stay away for seven days as a precaution. It is not known if the school closure is linked to the fatal case.

Earlier yesterday, members of the community of Thornliebank on the south side of Glasgow expressed their shock at the death of Ms Fleming.

At the local beauty salon, Capelli Hair and Beauty, the owner, John Capelli, who knows the family, said the news was "terribly sad".

He added: "They have said it was swine flu that killed her, but she had been ill as well."

One local resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "You feel for the kids, what an awful thing to happen to your mum. It's terrible, just terrible."

Earlier, a friend of Ms Fleming's family described her death as "a tragedy". "I think they are taking it really badly.

"She was in hospital for a couple of weeks and there were days she was getting better and days she was taking a turn for the worse. They hoped she was going to pull through and it was a shock when she died.

"The family are really devastated," the friend went on.

"She was a really nice lady, really kind, a quiet woman, just a family person really."

Around the world, at least 145 people have died from swine flu so far. The World Health Organisation declared a pandemic last week after rising numbers of cases in several countries.

The last flu pandemic in 1968 killed a million people around the world.

Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the British Medical Association's Scottish GPs committee, said those likely to be most affected by the pandemic would be those with underlying health problems, such as asthma and diabetes.

"If you have got an underlying health condition, potentially if you catch the flu, you may get it worse.

"It is the same kind of people who would be at risk from the winter flu. If you have underlying health conditions, your ability to fight it off is lessened."

He said that only a small number of people without chronic health conditions fell seriously ill as a result of flu.

Dr Marshall, a GP in Dalkeith, said some parts of Scotland, particularly the west, had been worse hit than others.

"For the average GP, practice life is going on as normal," he added. "Clearly, we are spending a fair bit of time trying to plan and make sure if things did get worse in the winter that we are as ready as we can be."

Meanwhile, another 59 patients in England were yesterday confirmed with swine flu by the Health Protection Agency. The UK total now stands at 1,391 confirmed cases, including the new patients diagnosed in the Glasgow area.