Swine flu confirmed across UK

May 3 2009

The swine flu virus has been confirmed throughout the British Isles as the UK infection tally rose to 15 and Ireland revealed its first case.

A six-year-old girl and the husband of a woman already diagnosed with the bug were confirmed as two latest UK outbreaks after both had recently returned from Mexico.

More than 630 other people in the UK and three in Ireland are also undergoing tests for the disease, as world health officials appeared to play down the virulence of the flu strain, advising that there is no evidence the swine flu virus was spreading in a sustained way outside North America.

The young girl confirmed with the bug, who is from Oxfordshire, has not been to school since arriving back in the UK and health chiefs decided against closing her school.

The other new UK case is a Merseyside man married to a woman who was confirmed as having swine flu on Friday.

As well as the Irish case - who officials said was under quarantine at home and recovering well - there are now 12 confirmed cases of the virus in England and three in Scotland.

People have been affected in Newcastle, Merseyside, Devon, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, London and Central Scotland.

All those in the UK who have contracted the disease appear to be suffering mild symptoms.

On Friday the first cases in which people contracted swine flu without visiting Mexico were confirmed. Barry Greatorex, 43, from Chipping Sodbury, in south Gloucestershire, believes he caught the virus from a colleague, who recently visited Mexico, after a brief meeting in her office.

The other case to be announced where a person fell ill without travelling to Mexico was Graeme Pacitti, 24, from Polmont, near Falkirk, Scotland. He contracted the disease after coming into contact with Iain Askham, who fell ill after his honeymoon in Mexico.