Swine flu kills two nine-year-old girls in Britain as global toll soars

Published on Monday 6 July 2009 22:03

TWO nine-year-old girls and a man have become the latest victims of swine flu in the UK, it was confirmed last night.

One of the girls, named by relatives as Asmaa Hussain, of Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, died last Thursday and the other, from south London, died over the weekend.

The man, who died on Sunday, was named locally in Dewsbury as Abdullah Patel, who taught at the town's Institute for Islamic Education.

All three had serious underlying health problems. Asmaa Hussain was said to have suffered epileptic fits since birth.

Health officials have been unable to make a connection between her and Mr Patel, who was thought to be in his forties. The institute where the man taught has been closed since last Tuesday after several students contracted the virus.

The total number of swine flu-related deaths confirmed in the UK last night stood at seven, and the number of cases worldwide neared 100,000.

The World Health Organisation said about 94,000 people around the globe had now contracted the disease.

The Scottish Government announced 52 new laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu yesterday, bringing the total number of cases north of the Border since the outbreak began to 1,377. All who died in the UK had underlying health problems.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "It remains the case that, in the majority of confirmed H1N1 cases to date, the symptoms have been mild and recovery straightforward.

"We have moved from a containment strategy into the early stages of the treatment phase, but let me reassure everyone this does not mean the severity of the virus has increased."

From today, the Scottish Government will no longer publish daily updates on the number of new infections. Instead, a weekly figure showing the rate of infection per 100,000 people will be published as the public authorities move to a new stage of their strategy to tackle the virus.

Just over half of the new Scottish cases between Saturday and Monday were in the biggest cluster area of south Glasgow.

The rest were in Lanarkshire, Fife, Grampian, Dumfries, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian, Tayside and Orkney. The confirmation of four cases of swine flu in Dumfries and Galloway means the virus has spread to the last region in mainland Scotland that had not been affected.

The North-east has now had 12 cases, but doctors believe there is little cause for concern.

Dr Roelf Dijkhuizen, NHS Grampian medical director, said: "We expected to see a small increase in the number of cases of influenza A (swine flu] in Grampian and we are pleased that people affected locally have only experienced mild symptoms and are recovering well."

A spokesman for NHS London, which has now had two swine flu deaths in its area, insisted that the virus was still a minor illness for most people.

But he added: "Some people may be more susceptible to the virus. If you have flu-like symptoms, it's important that you talk to your doctor if you are pregnant, very young, over 65 or have long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes."

The first UK death, Jacqui Fleming, 38, of Glasgow, contracted swine flu last month, two weeks after her son Jack was born 11 weeks prematurely. Jack later died, but had not contracted the virus. The second victim was a 73-year-old man from the Inverclyde area.

The youngest UK victim was six-year-old Sameerah Ahmad, who was born with a rare life-threatening disease. However, it is unclear whether the virus contributed to her death.

As a result of the change in strategy, which extends across the UK, anti-viral drugs will now be used more sparingly and fewer suspected cases will be sent to laboratories for tests.

Ministers warned last week that by the end of August there could be 100,000 new cases in Britain every day – 10,000 in Scotland.

Meanwhile, Harry Potter actor Rupert Grint, 20, who plays Ron Weasley in the films, confirmed he had contracted the disease, but said: "It was just like any other flu I've had before. It was just a sore throat and I was in bed for a while."