7:00am Saturday 4th July 2009
By Andy Chiles
Warning letters have been sent to hundreds of families after a city schoolboy contracted swine flu.
Scores of children and their parents have been encouraged to seek medical help amid fears the condition may have spread.
The latest victim of the illness, which has become a global pandemic since killing dozens of people in Mexico, was a sixth-former from 731-pupil Brighton College, in Eastern Road.
The teenager, from Brighton and Hove, fell sick while on a Combined Cadet Force camp in the final week before the school broke up last Friday, June 26.
He was confirmed to be suffering with swine flu on Thursday when a letter was sent by his school to all parents.
In it the school said it was likely the virus had been transmitted through the wider school community.
Headmaster Richard Cairns wrote: "Family members of pupils who were on the camp, are in the sixth form or Ryle House who develop flu like symptoms should contact their GP, who may consider advising antiviral treatment."
The news came yesterday as it was confirmed a 19-year-old man from South London had become the fourth in the UK to be killed after contracting swine flu.
The death occurred as London suffered what was described as a "spike" in cases, with the capital's total reaching more than 1,900.
West Sussex Primary Care Trust, which is coordinating responses to the condition for the whole of Sussex, said it was no longer keeping a total of the number of confirmed cases because they were expected to climb so significantly. The last total it gave, in June, was ten cases.
Cardinal Newman director of finance Deborah Whitmore yesterday said: "I'm pleased to say the girl involved was never diagnosed with swine flu. She's now fit and well and back at school. We don't know of any other pupils being affected."
A spokesman for West Sussex PCT said GPs would now follow new national guidance which meant they would no longer do any swabbing or trying to trace close contacts.
He said: "Instead they will be doing the diagnosing themselves and prescribing antiviral drugs when necessary.”
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