Swine flu closes third school

May 4 2009

A third school has been ordered to close after a 14-year-old pupil became the latest UK victim of swine flu.

The girl, from Barnet in north London, was confirmed as having the bug as the total number of UK victims reached 18 - 14 in England and four in Scotland.

Her independent girls' school, South Hampstead High School, posted a letter to parents on its website saying the year-nine student was "at home and well" and that the school will be closed until at least Thursday.

Antivirals have been also been offered to her year group and special arrangements are being made for upcoming exams.

It is the third UK school to close since the virus began spreading, joining Downend School in South Gloucestershire and Paignton Community and Sports College in Devon.

The 14-year-old is also the third case in the UK of someone contracting the virus without first travelling to Mexico or the US.

The other English case to be announced was an 11-year-old from Wandsworth, south-west London, who had travelled to the US.

Health chiefs said the youngster's school did not need to close "as the patient did not attend school while symptomatic".

The third new UK victim was a man from Ayrshire, the fourth in the district to contract the disease. Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said he had no connection to the three cases which have previously been confirmed in the area and that he had flown back from Houston, Texas, in the US.

The number of cases in London has now reached five. Other cases have been confirmed in Newcastle, Merseyside, Devon, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Central Scotland, as well as another infection in the Republic of Ireland.warned of a second wave of infection during the autumn.