Now two doctors and baby struck down with swine flu

Published on Saturday 6 June 2009 01:03

TWO hospital doctors and a 14-month-old baby are among the latest people confirmed with swine flu in Scotland.

The Scottish Government revealed 22 new cases yesterday, raising the total in Scotland to 141. They include a 14-month-old baby in Glasgow and two doctors at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

The doctors probably caught swine flu from patients being treated at the hospital, according to the Scottish Government.

New cases continued the trend over the past week of an accelerating spread of the virus across Scotland.

The number of cases has risen sevenfold in a week, and Scotland now accounts for a quarter of all UK cases.

The condition of the baby, in Glasgow's Yorkhill hospital, was said to be improving, and she was expected to be discharged last night.

The doctors take the number of healthcare workers infected to three, the first being a nurse.

Two more schools – Lochgoilhead Primary and Dunoon Grammar – will be closed due to the outbreak. This brings the number of schools closed in the Highland health board area to six. Sixteen of the new cases confirmed yesterday are in the Highland area, five in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and one in Forth Valley.

Another 91 people in Scotland possibly have swine flu. None are yet classed as probable cases.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said despite the "dramatic" increase in cases over the week, most of them were in the Highland or Greater Glasgow and Clyde areas.

And most contacts of those people affected were not being infected, which indicated containment efforts were having an impact, she said.

"That said, we are clearly looking at a flu outbreak," she added. "While we can and have managed to slow down the spread of that outbreak, it will eventually run its course."

In the US and Canada, initial big numbers were declining, Ms Sturgeon said.

She added: "Although we are continuing to try to slow down the spread, we can expect over the next days and weeks to see more cases appear and be confirmed."

Scotland's chief medical officer, Dr Harry Burns, said that though he hoped swine flu cases were nearing a peak, there was a chance they would continue to oscillate over the summer and then re-emerge at a higher rate.

Yesterday there were ten people in hospital in Scotland battling the virus.

Three were in intensive care in the Royal Alexandra. A 45-year-old man and a woman aged 38 were both critical but stable, and a 23-year-old woman was stable and improving.

Three more victims were in hospital high-dependency units – a man aged 37 whose condition was "improving" in Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary, a woman aged 44 in the Royal Alexandra who was also improving, and a man, 44, in the Southern General who was stable.

A 29-year-old woman in the Victoria Infirmary and a 62-year-old woman in Kirkcaldy's Victoria Hospital were due to be discharged yesterday.

The two remaining hospital cases – the baby and a 14-year-old pupil from Paisley Grammar School in the Royal Alexandra – were also said to be improving.

In the past two days, about 2,000 people worldwide have being diagnosed with swine flu and cases in England have continued to increase.