28/05/2009

Swine Flu Cases Exceeds 200

More than 200 people in the UK have now been diagnosed with swine flu.

The most recent cases include 13 children and one adult from Welford Primary School in Handsworth, Birmingham, which is already linked with 50 cases of the infection.

The school is carrying out a "deep clean" while closed for half-term.

The total number of cases in the UK now stands at 203, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

The HPA added that two adults in London and a child in east England make up the other cases of the H1N1 virus.

Health officials also revealed that UK scientists have produced a strain of the swine flu virus suitable for vaccine manufacture.

The move is a "crucial step" towards the large-scale production of a vaccine against the disease, the Agency said.

The strain was developed at the HPA's National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in Hertfordshire.

It is now being made available to drug manufacturers and other flu laboratories worldwide.

(JM/BMcC)

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