Swine flu news update: Outbreak in the U.K., officials say to stay calm

The Leicester Royal Infirmary has been closing its wards to avoid cross contamination of the swine flu virus.

In the said hospital, 17 people were diagnosed with the virus, 14 are from the hematology wards or those with cancer. All 14 patients were confirmed to have the H1N1 strain. Measures are being done to avoid the spread of the virus starting with the hospital now isolating the patients and giving antiviral drugs to visitors and healthcare providers.

H1N1 is a respiratory influenza virus similar to those found in pigs, a strain of the flu virus A. In 2009, it caused a world-wide pandemic causing a lot of deaths especially to those who were immunocompromised — the very young, very old and those with pre-existing health condition like cancer. In 2010, the World Health Organization declared that the pandemic was over.

Dr. Philip Monk, consultant in communicable disease control at Public Health England for the East Midlands, said to Lincolnshire Echo, "We are seeing a slight increase in the number of cases of flu being reported in the East Midlands. However, flu has been circulating for a number of weeks now and as with every flu season we would expect to see the number of cases rise and fall."

The public is encouraged to get vaccinations to help prevent getting contaminated by the virus. Due to the winter season, seasonal flu is common, which might cause someone to think it's not that serious. Additional symptoms might occur for those experiencing flu such as sudden fever (38C or 100.4F or above), fatigue, aching muscles and headache.

"We have seen an increase in the number of flu cases in February, in both the community and across our hospital sites," Liz Collins, lead nurse for infection prevention at Leicester's hospitals, told Mail Online. "We ask visitors who have cold and flu symptoms, such as a cough, runny nose or high temperature, to stay away from the hospital to avoid passing on their infections to our patients."

Another hospital was rumored to have patients contracting the virus. The Northampton General Hospital, however, dismissed the rumors saying that the patients only have seasonal flu.

The spokesperson of the said hospital told Northants Herald and Post, "We are seeing cases of patients with seasonal flu being admitted into hospital from the community. We do not have any cross-infection or an outbreak of flu within the hospital."

Last month, Reuters reported that there had also been reports of a swine flu outbreak in Armenia and 18 people were killed. Meanwhile, 300 people have died in Ukraine in the last four months because of swine flu and is now spreading to the regions, according to Independent.