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Did swine flu kill a seven-year-old boy?

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 17 July 2009

Health services are investigating whether the death of a seven-year-old was connected with the swine flu virus.

A school pupil wears a swine flu protective mask (Getty)

Health services in Kent are investigating the death of a seven-year-old boy they believe may have had swine flu.

He was a student at the English Martyrs school in Strood - which is still open.

Swine flu related deaths in the UK have now reached 29 - including a 39-year-old pregnant woman who gave birth prematurely at Whipps Cross hospital in London. Her baby remains in intensive care.

Meanwhile, as schools begin to break up for the summer holiday, they have been told that they could remain closed at the start of the new academic year if the flu virus escalates.

Latest government figures predict the virus could claim up to 65,000 lives.

Virologist Professor John Oxford spoke to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about the pandemic.

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