Swine flu found in 10 Shropshire hospital deaths

Ten patients at Shropshire's main hospitals died with swine flu at the height of this winter's influenza outbreak, new figures show.

From the beginning of December until the middle of last month, 57 patients at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and 34 at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital were identified to have flu A - a group of flu viruses that includes H1N1 swine flu.

How many had the H1N1 strain is not known. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust tested all patients admitted to the two hospitals with flu symptoms. In some cases test samples were sent to a special laboratory in Birmingham to identify which strain of flu a patient might have.

As the trust did not send the laboratory a sample fr-om all 91 admitted patients, it is not able to say how many had swine flu. But there were 12 deaths - six at each hospital - and swine flu was recorded in part of the death certificate in 10 of these. In four cases, swine flu was recorded as the primary cause of death.

The trust says in a statement: "There have been no confirmed cases in which patients have been confirmed to have contracted flu in either hospital.

"All patients who tested positive for flu were either admitted with symptoms of flu already present or developed symptoms within the incubation period of flu.

"In all cases our aim is to provide the best possible treatment and care for our patients.

"We introduced widespread testing of suspected flu to help us ensure that we quickly provided the most appropriate treatment - such as antivirals to tackle the flu virus, or antibiotics to treat any complications associated with underlying conditions."