Hospital Worker Suffers Swine Flu

A 24-year-old hospital health worker has become the latest person to be confirmed with swine flu.

Eight patients and three colleagues who came into contact with him at Cardiff’s University of Hospital of Wales have been offered antiviral medicine.

The man did not contract the infection in the hospital and is not in work.

Three others cases have also been confirmed, bringing the total confirmed in Wales to 17. They include an eight-year-old boy from Denbighshire.

A 10-year-old boy from Pembrokeshire and a 22-year-old man from Monmouthshire have also been confirmed to have the flu, the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) said.

Meanwhile, another clinically presumed case involving a 19-year-old woman from Bridgend, who is directly linked to a confirmed case in Exeter, has been announced.

The National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) has up until now been testing everyone who has potentially come into contact with swine flu and who has symptoms.

But a spokesman said: “We are moving to the position where swine flu is circulating so freely in the community that we will test very few people as patient’s doctors will assume that anyone with flu-like symptoms has contracted swine flu.

“As part of the transition towards this phase, we are now reporting clinically presumed cases. They are household contacts of confirmed cases of swine flu, who have symptoms of swine flu and are presumed to have swine flu but will not be laboratory tested. ”

‘Vigilant’

He said there was enough evidence of swine flu with these patients for doctors to treat them and testing was “unnecessary” to reach a diagnosis.

So far, 189 people have been under investigation in Wales, with 17 confirmed cases, four clinically presumed cases and swine flu ruled out in 144 cases.

This leaves 24 still under investigation, which the NPHS says all involve people with mild symptoms.

Among the confirmed cases, a 59-year-old woman from Caerphilly, who became unwell in Spain and had been offered antiviral medicine, has been allowed home after hospital treatment.

There are now 4,328 laboratory confirmed cases in the UK – 922 cases in Scotland, 3,364 cases in England and 25 in Northern Ireland.

Chief medical officer for Wales, Dr Tony Jewell, said: “We have made it clear that there would be cases in Wales and that the number of cases would rise. Therefore everyone must continue to be vigilant and try to reduce the spread of the virus.”