FLU GIRL, 15, DIES.. BUT SCHOOLS WON'T SHUT; Cost to economy too high.Byline: EMILY COOK A GIRL of 15 last night became the 30th person in the UK to die from swine flu. The teenager had underlying medical conditions, according to health leaders in Scotland. The news came as ministers ruled out closing schools in the autumn to stop the virus spreading. The girl, who was in the Royal Hospital for Sick Children The Royal Hospital for Sick Children is the name of 2 hospitals in Scotland:
Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "As we have seen in previous cases, this patient was suffering from underlying health conditions and her death should not cause alarm." The swine flu pandemic is presenting the NHS with its "biggest challenge in a generation", chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson said yesterday. Under contin-gency plans, nonemergency operations can be cancelled and GPs moved around the country to help cope with flu blackspots. Every region but Yorkshire and the Humber Yorkshire and the Humber is one of the nine regions of England. It covers most of the historic county of Yorkshire, along with the part of northern Lincolnshire that was, from 1974 to 1996, within the former shire county of Humberside. is starting to report exceptional demands on services. But Sir Liam said it was only going to get worse. Health officials also revealed yesterday that a six-year-old girl with swine flu died of septic shock following a bout of tonsillitis tonsillitis Inflammatory infection of the tonsils, usually with hemolytic streptococci (see streptococcus) or viruses. The symptoms are sore throat, trouble in swallowing, fever, and enlarged lymph nodes on the neck. . Chloe Buckley, from West London, died on July 9. It is not clear to what extent swine flu contributed to her death. Despite the latest death of a schoolgirl, Britain's chief medical officer said experience so far had shown that shutting down schools had little effect on controlling the virus. Sir Liam warned that such a move would have an "extremely disruptive" effect on society. His comments came after scientists suggested closing schools could help buy more time to produce and roll out a vaccine. But researchers said in the Lancet medical journal a 12-week closure could wipe up to six per cent off GDP GDP (guanosine diphosphate): see guanine. through absenteeism. It could also seriously harm the health service as up to 30 per cent of NHS staff would have to take time off to look after children. But they said that closures could slow the transmission of the virus during peak weeks of the pandemic. Schools Secretary Ed Balls said there was "no longer" a case for closing schools. He said: "Now that the virus is established in the community, expert advice is that there is no longer a strong case for closing schools to contain the spread of infection. We will review the evidence in late August." THE REALITY.. Number of UK suspected cases: 85,000 Number of deaths: 30 THE HYSTERIA.. Source: Health Protection Agency CAPTION(S): FEARS Young foreign students protect themselves with flu masks at Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road is a road in Central London, England, running from St Giles' Circus (the junction of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road) north to Euston Road, near the border of the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden. tube in London yesterday WOE Royal Hospital in Glasgow |
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