Nurse catches swine flu from critically ill patient

The number of swine flu cases in the UK exceeded 400 yesterday after a nurse who treated a patient with swine flu became the first British health worker to contract the virus

The 26-year-old who works at the Southern Royal General Hospital in Glasgow had treated a 38-year-old woman who remained critically ill after contracting the virus. Four victims are now in intensive care. Thirteen more cases were confirmed at Birmingham's Welford Primary School, where 96 pupils have been diagnosed with the virus. Two cases have been reported at Eton College, taking its total to six.

Last night a postgraduate student at Oxford University was also confirmed with the flu. The number of H1N1 cases in the UK has reached 404, with 313 in England, 88 in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland and one in Wales. Other cases involve adults from Coventry, Telford and Birmingham, who all recently returned from the US.

Most cases and deaths have been reported in Mexico and the US, but the virus is spreading from person to person in countries as far apart as Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia. The number of swine flu cases worldwide has reached 19,273, according to the latest WHO figures.