50 Infected with Swine Flu at Birmingham School
During the half-term holiday, Welford Primary School will undergo a deep cleaning after being hit by the largest outbreak of the swine flu in the UK. A total of 50 teachers, pupils, and their parents have been confirmed to have the swine flu, and health bosses believe the numbers are going to increase more.
On Friday, a female pupil at the school was confirmed to have the virus, and since then another 44 pupils and 5 adults have contracted the virus as well. The Health Protection Agency has unveiled that the school might not re-open at the end of the half-term, and officers are closely monitoring the situation.
The school is set to have a deep clean, across the entire premises, while everyone connected to the school is given anti-virals. Those who have been infected with H1N1 have been responding well to treatment, according to reports.
Ann Fleming, West Midlands Health Protection Agency spokeswoman, said that there are 50 confirmed cases total that are connected to Welford Primary School. This is the biggest number of cases that have been confirmed for one place so far, she continued. There are still many laboratory results pending, Fleming said, so the numbers are expected to increase.
Fleming also said that since the start of the investigation, the Health Protection Agency has worked with the school to find out from parents and teachers if they had any flu symptoms. They are continuously looking at the situation, she added, and if there are still a large number of confirmed cases connected with the school next week, they will not re-open.