Two die and others seriously ill as flu starts to take its toll on Scots

THE number of flu cases in Scotland increased last week, as the UK death-toll from the virus rose to 17, new figures have revealed.

Six people in Scotland were left in intensive care after contracting swine flu, including two people who subsequently died.

A 24-year-old mother, Ashleigh Morrison, was rushed to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock after giving birth at the weekend. She was suffering from flu.

A hospital spokeswoman last night described her condition as "critical".

There have now been 42 cases of swine flu this winter, while GP consultations for general flu-like illnesses have increased from 28.8 per 100,000 to 36.1 last week, according to figures from Health Protection Scotland (HPS).

Consultant epidemiologist Jim McMenamin, who heads the flu programme at HPS, said: "The season has got under way in earnest and we can see, sadly, that there a number of individuals who have become very unwell."

He went on: "It's early on in the season to know what kind of problems we're going to see. But we do know from the initial viruses that have been identified across Europe and Scotland that they're in this season's flu vaccine.

"So, for the people most at risk, if they haven't taken up the opportunity to be vaccinated, then that's something they should certainly be doing as soon as they can."

The latest UK-wide figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed 17 people had died from flu, including 14 from swine flu.

Of those who died, all were aged under 65, with six aged under 18.

Overall, the rates of flu and flu-like illnesses are lower in England than in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, the HPA figures showed.