Swine Flu Death Toll Rises

Seven people from NI have now died while suffering from the swine flu virus.

Five died in NI while the other two victims died in England and Spain.

The latest tragedy has been identified as 14-year-old Orla O'Kane, from Londonderry - a pupil at Foyle View Special School – who died a week ago.

No further details about the girl's death have been released and it is not known if she was suffering from an underlying health condition.

But there is controversy, as the Western Health Trust has refused to comment on claims that it was 'too slow' in providing public information about the latest swine flu death.

Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey claimed at the weekend that Orla's family was not told she had the virus until Friday, two days after her funeral, and in the meantime, another member of the family is also thought to have contracted swine flu.

Mr Ramsey initially held talks at Altnagelvin Hospital on Saturday night. He said the family are concerned by a number of issues.

"Clearly, the family would have handled the wake and funeral arrangements very differently if the cause of death had been confirmed to them in good time.

"Concern for friends and neighbours has now added to their deep distress at the loss of a very special young girl. Given the nature of swine flu, everyone appreciates the need for caution in diagnosis.

"But it is equally important to communicate quickly and efficiently with everyone who can play a part in reducing exposure to the virus, and I have to say that was not done in this case."

This afternoon he added: "The Western Trust took much too long to notify the O'Kane family that their daughter had swine flu.

"We need to go through the sequence of events, to know what exactly happened, to ensure that protocols currently in place are sufficient or if they need to be improved so that this incident is not a precedent for others. This cannot happen again and we must ensure that it does not."

NI Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said he was saddened to hear about the death and expressed his deepest sympathy to the teenager's family.

On Monday the Minister also said: "I want to offer my sincere apologies to the family of Orla O'Kane for the distress caused by the delay in being told their child had confirmed swine flu. This was clearly unacceptable and only created further anxiety for a family who were grieving for their child.

"It is essential that every step is taken to try to prevent such a situation from happening again. I asked the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride to hold an urgent meeting of relevant organisations to determine what exactly happened in this case."

Northern Ireland's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride aso assured parents of children who may have come into contact with the girl that "if their child has no symptoms of swine flu and is otherwise healthy there is no need for antiviral treatment".

He said that any parents who are worried that their child may by suffering from the symptoms of swine flu should immediately telephone their GP or out-of-hours service for advice and assessment.

"For the vast majority of people, swine flu remains a mild illness, however, some people will require hospital care and in some cases admission to intensive care", he added.

The first batch of swine flu vaccines has arrived in Northern Ireland and a vaccination programme is due to start on 21 October.

Frontline heath workers will be first to receive the vaccine, closely followed by 'at-risk' groups including people with chronic illnesses and suppressed immune systems.

The latest news is made worse as the number of newly confirmed cases increased by nearly 60% compared to the week before and represented the highest weekly number reported to date.

(BMcC/KMcA)