Latest Swine Flu Victim Had Doctor Ambition

A teenager who hoped to become a doctor has died after contracting swine flu.

Madelynne Butcher, 18, fell ill after returning from a holiday in Tenerife to celebrate finishing her exams. She had been due to study biology at the University of East Anglia.

The student, from Sholing in Southampton, became sick and short of breath and was eventually taken to Southampton General Hospital.

A post-mortem examination has yet to establish the exact cause of death, but Miss Butcher had been diagnosed as having swine flu by doctors in Southampton and had been prescribed the antiviral Tamiflu.

Her mother, Beverley Butcher told The Daily Echo: “She loved every minute of life. Madelynne was so adorable, everyone who met her thought so and that’s what all her friends have been saying.”

A total of 36 people in the UK have died after getting swine flu.