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Second Briton With Swine Flu Dies: Govt

by VR Sreeraman on Jun 29 2009 3:17 PM

A second Briton has died after contracting swine flu, the Scottish government said on Sunday.

A second Briton has died after contracting swine flu, the Scottish government said on Sunday.

The 73-year-old man died in hospital in Paisley, central Scotland, late Saturday and had "serious underlying health problems", having been in intensive care for two weeks.

Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "Although it is concerning that the patient had swine flu, we are aware that the patient had very serious underlying health issues.

"It's important to remember that the vast majority of those who have H1N1 are suffering from relatively mild symptoms."

The dead man's identity has not been released. A spokesman for his family said: "Our beloved relative was private in life and we would ask that his privacy continues to be respected".

A total of 4,323 swine flu cases have been diagnosed in Britain.

Earlier this month, another Scot, 38-year-old Jacqueline Fleming, became the first person with swine flu to die outside the Americas. She also had underlying health problems.

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Swine flu has infected nearly 60,000 people in 113 countries and killed 263 people since late March, the World Health Organization said Friday.

Britain showed the second steepest increase after Chile, according to the WHO's figures.

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Source-AFP
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