A major screening for swine flu starts at Birmingham airport

May 5 2009 by Tony Collins, Birmingham Mail

A FURTHER case of swine flu has been confirmed in the West Midlands as a major screening operation was being put in place at Birmingham International Airport today as a flight arrived from Mexico.

The Health Protection Agency revealed that nine further patients under investigation in England were confirmed with swine flu, bringing the current total number of confirmed UK cases to 27.

One of the cases is an adult from the West Midlands who had recently returned from Mexico.

Of the remaining eight newly confirmed cases, one is an adult from London who had also been to Mexico, two are siblings of school age in London who are close contacts of a previously confirmed case, and five are pupils of the same school in London.

Another pupil at the same school, who had recently returned from the US, has already been confirmed with swine flu.

The school will now remain closed for several days with all pupils being offered antivirals as a precautionary measure.

In addition to the sudden upsurge in confirmed cases, a further 331 are currently under laboratory investigation.

West Midlands Health Protection Agency staff were at Birmingham International Airport today as passengers returned on a flight from Cancun in Mexico.