Health Authorities Fear First Case of Swine Flu Caught Within Uk

Man in contact with infected Scottish couple returning from Mexico regarded as 'probable' case

Health authorities fear the first case of someone catching swine flu within the UK has emerged in Scotland, in a man in "close contact" with the couple who returned from Mexico last week with the virus.

The Scottish health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said the man, who lives near Iain and Dawn Askham in the Falkirk area, was now a "probable" swine flu case after an initial test found that he had influenza A the family of flu viruses which includes swine flu.

The disclosure this afternoon came soon after the Askhams, a newly married couple from Polmont, were discharged from the specialist isolation unit at Monklands hospital in Airdrie, after five nights of treatment there.

Sturgeon said this new probable case had initially tested negative for the virus, but he then began showing symptoms.

His samples were now being tested again at the Health Protection Agency's central laboratories in Colindale, London. The man is being given Tamiflu and being treated at home.

Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's chief medical officer, said this case was "probably more likely than less likely" to be swine flu.

Sturgeon said: "I should stress to you that it is not a confirmed case, but the circumstances around this person gives us cause for concern. And that's why he's being treated as probable. That would be the first case of onward transmission from one of the original Mexico cases."

Sturgeon said the health authorities were also investigating 21 new suspicious cases living in 10 areas of Scotland as well as six cases from earlier this week, after the vast majority of tests during the week came back negative.

Most were travel-related, involving people who had traveled recently in Mexico, Texas and California. Two of these new cases involved people among the 22 "close contacts" of the Askhams who were identified last Sunday and Monday.

Meanwhile, NHS24, the Scottish version of the NHS Direct phone helpline, has set up a dedicated service for influenza inquiries, the first set up so far in the UK.

But of these cases, only one is being designated as "probable" the man now feared to be the UK's first domestic case because an initial test has shown he is carrying an influenza A type virus.

Faced with a spate of possible cases, health authorities across the UK have begun using two new definitions "possible" and "probable" - to distinguish between people being tested as a precaution and those known to be infected by an influenza A type virus.