Teenager is fourth Brit to die from swine flu

A 19-year-old man was confirmed today as the first person in London to die after contracting swine flu.

The teenager from south London, who suffered serious underlying health problems, tested positive for the virus following his death on Wednesday.

He is the fourth person with swine flu to die in the UK.

The latest death comes amid warnings that the number of cases could soar to 100,000 a day by the end of next month.

Earlier today the Government's chief medical officer warned the public to avoid panic-buying "counterfeit" anti-swine flu drugs online.

Sir Liam Donaldson, who confirmed yesterday that the UK has moved past the stage of containing the swine flu outbreak and into the "treatment phase", said there was no need for people to resort to the internet to self-medicate.

He said Britain had a massive stockpile of Tamiflu and would be one of the first countries to have access to a vaccine, with the first supplies arriving at the end of next month.

Sir Liam told GMTV: "There's generally a growth in people ordering drugs from the internet worldwide and there's a lot of concern amongst health authorities that people might buy counterfeit drugs.

"I think this is a similar situation - people shouldn't buy Tamiflu from the internet.
"We have got a massive stockpile in this country and everybody can have access to it through the National Health Service."

Sir Liam added he was "surprised" health services controlled the virus for as long as they had. The first case in Britain was recorded in April.

He said: "We have been dealing with it very aggressively so far - we have investigated every case, we've treated their contacts, we've closed schools and all of that has helped slow the spread.

"We are surprised we have been able to run it as long as we have like this. Flu viruses spread extremely quickly so this is very much going as expected."

Jacqui Fleming, 38, of Glasgow, was the first person in the UK to die after contracting the virus.

Ms Fleming died last month, two weeks after her son, Jack, was born 11 weeks prematurely. Jack died later but had not contracted the virus.

The second victim was a 73-year-old man from the Inverclyde area of Scotland.

Then a week ago today, six-year-old Sameerah Ahmad became the youngest UK victim to date.

Sameerah, who was born with a rare life-threatening disease, died at Birmingham's Children's Hospital after contracting swine flu, although it is unclear if it contributed to her death.

All the people who have died after contracting swine flu already suffered from underlying health problems.

The Government has signed contracts with GSK and Baxter for the supply of 130 million doses of swine flu vaccine - enough for the entire population.

The first delivery is expected next month, and 60 million doses should have been delivered by the end of the year.

The remaining doses will not arrive until next year.

The Government is still confirming who will get the vaccine first, but those near the top will include health workers and at-risk groups, such as people with heart disease, diabetes or asthma, and the under-fives.

Dr Simon Tanner, regional director of public health for London (pictured), said: "It's with sadness that we have to announce the death of a patient in London who has subsequently tested positive for H1N1 swine flu."

He said his thoughts were with the family of the 19-year-old man from south London.
No further details about the patient would be released, he said.

At a briefing at NHS London, Dr Tanner said everyone had a responsibility to "catch it, bin it, kill it" to protect those who were vulnerable from the virus.

"There are people out there in the community, and we've talked about one today - precious individuals that have got really difficult medical conditions - who are particularly vulnerable when the population has a virus like this in it," he said.

"We've all got a responsibility for their sake."

He said most of the confirmed cases showed mild symptoms, but added: "Some people may be more susceptible to the virus and if you have flu-like symptoms, it is important that you talk to your doctor.

"We've had a spike in London and in the last week or so we've had larger numbers every day."

He said it was not possible to put specific figures on the number of cases expected in London, but added that officials normally talked of the capital in terms of it being one tenth of the UK population.

If the UK sees 100,000 cases per day from next month, about 10,000 per day could be expected in London, he said.

Dr Tanner said: "Across London we're starting to see increasing numbers of swine flu.

"We would make the judgment that a major conurbation, with a lot of people coming into it every day, with lots of people working in close proximity, is likely to be the sort of area where you would see the spread of any infectious disease."

But he added: "It's not completely clear as to why we saw the hotspots that we have seen.
"But as with most things in London, when you're doing my job, London is different.

"We do have to plan in London in a particularly careful way for these sorts of issues, which indeed we have done."