Swine flu: virus passing human-to-human in UK
- 00:01:23
- ITN
Swine flu: virus passing human-to-human in UK
Two cases of human-to-human transfer of swine flu have been confirmed in Britain. The first man diagnosed, Graeme Pacitti, is a friend of Iain and Dawn Askham - Britain's first confirmed victims of the disease. The Department of Health said there were also two confirmed cases in the south west and south east. Sir Liam Donaldson, chief medical advisor, said: "The first non-imported cases of swine flu have been confirmed in England and Scotland. The infection appears to have been acquired by person to person spread within the United Kingdom. Until now cases were confined to people who had themselves recently come back from Mexico. The person in the South West is being treated with Tamiflu." Another case involves a Year Seven pupil at Downend School in South Gloucestershire, near Bristol. A 41-year-old woman from Merseyside who recently returned from Mexico has also been diagnosed. Tests are continuing on more than 600 suspected cases of the disease. Mr Pacitti, an NHS office worker, is believed to have had close contact with Mr and Mrs Askham after they returned home to Scotland from their Mexican honeymoon. Just minutes after hearing the results, he said: "I'm gutted really. I saw Iain last Thursday, he wasn't showing any symptoms then. My friends thought he looked a bit tired but we thought it was just jet-lag. "I've been feeling a lot better today than I have all week. I've still got an upset stomach and a sore throat. Earlier in the week I was having headaches and feeling feverish." Mr Pacitti, 24, was initially given a clean bill of health but continued to show symptoms and further tests have confirmed he has succumbed to the H1N1 virus. He has been receiving anti-viral drugs and is being treated at home at his flat in Falkirk. Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's chief medical officer, said: "My understanding is he is through the worst of it, he has had Tamiflu as a contact." Confirmation of the first human-to-human case came minutes after the Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said there were technical problems with the tests that were delaying the results. Of the 13 confirmed cases in the UK, ten are in England, and three in Scotland. The Askhams claim they contracted the virus on their flight back to the UK. The couple, from Polmont near Falkirk, have been discharged from Monklands Hospital in Lanarkshire after spending five days in isolation. They told the Daily Record newspaper that five men sitting close to them on their flight from Cancun to Birmingham were coughing and sneezing throughout the journey.
ITN | May 1, 2009
