UK swine flu patients 'recovering'
Updated on 28 April 2009
Two people confirmed as Britain's first cases of swine flu are recovering in isolation in hospital.Two people confirmed as Britain's first cases of swine flu are recovering in isolation in hospital.
The two, who had been on holiday in Mexico, were at Monklands Hospital in Airdrie, Lanarkshire. Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said 22 people they had been in contact with had been traced.
Seven of those were showing "mild symptoms", she said at a press conference in Edinburgh. They are being treated at home.
The two people, from the Falkirk area in central Scotland according to the BBC, were travelling together in Mexico.
They arrived in Scotland on 21 April and were admitted to hospital after showing symptoms.
Earlier, Scotland's chief medical officer Dr Harry Burns said that it appeared swine flu was not as aggressive as the previous avian flu strain. He said that particular illness had had a "very high mortality".
Dr Burns added: "It looks on the face of it, given that so many of the cases that have been identified outside Mexico, all of them as far as I'm aware, have had very minor symptoms. "It does seem as if this may turn out to be much less aggressive and virulent than the avian flu strain.
That's a very positive thing and I think it's very important that people do not run away with the idea that this is the same as the avian flu we were concerned about."
The Scottish Government said it was in close contact with Scottish NHS boards, which are well prepared to respond to any further suspected cases.
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