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Three more swine flu victims die



A nine-year-old girl in London and a man and a girl in West Yorkshire have all died after contracting swine flu.

The child from south London had "serious underlying health problems," as did the other two victims, who are thought to be from Dewsbury.

The girl from West Yorkshire died on Thursday, the London girl died over the weekend and the man died on Sunday. None of the victims has been named.

The deaths take the number of UK swine flu sufferers who have died to seven.

There is no connection between the man and girl from West Yorkshire.

A spokesperson for NHS Kirklees, which covers Dewsbury, said: "At this stage, we have no confirmation whether or not swine flu was the cause of death."

Last week a 19-year-old man from south London, also with underlying health problems, died after contracting the virus.



See how the outbreak has spread

The other three people to die from swine flu in the UK also had underlying health issues.

Jacqui Fleming, 38, of Glasgow, was the first after contracting the virus last month, two weeks after her son, Jack, was born 11 weeks prematurely.

Jack died later but had not contracted the virus.

The second victim was a 73-year-old man from the Inverclyde area of Scotland.

The youngest UK victim was six-year-old Sameerah Ahmad. She was born with a rare life-threatening disease and died at Birmingham's Children's Hospital after contracting swine flu, although it is unclear if it contributed to her death.

An NHS London spokesman said: "Once again we wish to take this opportunity to remind the public that for most people this is a minor illness and that they should start to feel better after a few days without needing to go to their GP or A&E.

"However, some people may be more susceptible to the virus. If you have flu-like symptoms it's important that you talk to your doctor if you are pregnant, very young, over-65 or have long-term conditions such as asthma or diabetes."

Earlier experts warned that the number of swine flu cases in the UK could rise to 100,000 a day by the end of next month.

THE BBC