Swine flu: toddler in United States becomes first death outside Mexico
A 23-month-old child has died of swine flu in Texas, in the United States, the first death outside Mexico caused by the virus.
29 Apr 2009
A US government official confirmed that the toddler died from the H1N1 strain.
The death was disclosed as it was revealed that three more people in Britain are suffering from swine flu - a 12-year-old girl from Torbay and two adults, from London and Birmingham.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, told the Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions, that they were suffering from “mild symptoms”.
Meanwhile, the results of tests on 23 other British people showing symptoms of the flu were being awaited, and holidaymakers arriving home from Mexico described the panic from they had fled.
The results of the swine flu tests on 23 people in Scotland are expected later on Wednesday. A honeymooning couple from Falkirk who had recently returned from Mexico, have been confirmed as the country’s first cases.
Dozens of holidaymakers returning from Mexico, where the disease has killed about 160 people, continue to be tested for swine flu, with potential cases in Scotland, Wales, Wiltshire, Derbyshire and Essex.
Other tourists have spoken of their rush to leave the country. Karen Whitehouse, 22, and her boyfriend Alex Henney, 31, were so worried about contracting swine flu that they paid £1,300 each for a flight back from Mexico City to Heathrow, landing yesterday afternoon having cut short their two-week holiday after just five days.
Mr Hennney, a stockbroker from Clapham, said: “The people in Mexico were panic stricken. There was a woman whose neighbour had died of swine flu on the news, she was terrified but no doctor would go to see her and got no medicine. People were getting sick but ambulance crews were too terrified to take them to hospital.”
There are unconfirmed reports that three Mexican doctors have died after treating infected patients. More than 80 cases have been confirmed in other countries.
The first reported death in the United States from the swine flu outbreak was that of a 23-month-old Mexican toddler who fell ill in Brownsville and was transported for treatment in Houston, where the child died Monday, city officials said.
Dr. David Persse, director of the city's emergency medical services, said the child was taken to a Brownsville hospital on April 13 and quickly got sicker, prompting transport to a Houston hospital. He said that hospital has asked not to be identified immediately, but that it would separately make a statement later today.
He learned of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmation of the virus before dawn this morning. Other people accompanying the child have shown no signs of illness, Persse said. "This doesn't really change the landscape here in Houston," he said. "We know it's in the U.S., it's in Texas and we need to take our own personal precautions."
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