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Honeymoon couple are first cases in the UK
Kiran Randhawa, Mark Prigg and Danny Brierley28 Apr 2009
The newly-wed couple who became the first people in Britain to contract swine flu are responding well to treatment, their relatives said today.
Iain and Dawn Askham are being treated in isolation at a hospital near Glasgow which has a dedicated infectious diseases unit.
Mr Askham, 27, and his 24-year-old wife showed symptoms of the potentially deadly virus on Thursday after returning from their honeymoon in the Mexican holiday resort of Cancun.
They tested positive for the H1N1 strain last night and seven of 22 family members and friends who had contact with them were showing “mild symptoms” and are being screened.
The Askhams, from Polmont near Falkirk, who got married three weeks ago, were admitted into Monklands Hospital in Airdrie on Saturday.
It is understood that Mr Askham, an information analyst for utility company Scottish Power, showed symptoms on a night out with friends. Mrs Askham, a healthcare assistant at Boots in Falkirk, showed symptoms the same day.
Boots said today that Mrs Askham worked “briefly” between returning from Mexico and falling ill. Colleagues at the chemist have been told to stay at home, given preventative drugs and tested for the virus.
Mrs Askham's father, Brian Colston, said his daughter's condition was improving: “She's doing OK, she's getting better.”
British travel companies today cancelled flights to Mexico and arranged emergency flights home for holidaymakers.
Tour operator Thomson said it cancelled two flights due to leave the UK today for Cancun and confirmed that it was bringing home all Thomson and First Choice holidaymakers in Mexico.
Thomas Cook and Airtours, which have about 3,000 holidaymakers in Mexico, also suspended flights for the next seven days.
The Foreign Office earlier changed its travel advice by advising against all but essential travel to Mexico.
There was confusion over who was responsible for checking whether passengers coming in from Mexico were showing symptoms of the disease. A Health Protection Agency spokesman said there were no additional measures in place at London's airports and that cabin crew would be responsible for watching for symptoms.
But British Airways, Thomson and Thomas Cook said the health authorities were responsible for the screening of passengers.
The HPA spokesman said: “There is no procedure other than standard surveillance in place. Cabin crew will refer any people ill on flights to the captain, who then lets the airport know. Obviously there is heightened awareness among the crew but people are not being subjected to checks when they arrive.”
Reader views (6)
Hi.
we are now in the center of the hurricane.
Lots of media coverage, and unfourtunately little trust in some of the resources.
Locally, ( probably to avoid panic ) here we`ve been told there has being no case in this state ( quintana roo )
Thr thruth is that with the first Honey mooners case,, that would be the first ones,, no?
Now,, on the other hand, in a city of over 23 million citizens ( not counting the suburbs ) lots of people die every day.
From the 156 casualties , just 7 have been confirmed ( again according to the health chief department ) to be caused directly from the swine flu.
Probably the numebrs will rise now that Mexico has got the proper equipment from Canada or the States to quick test the samples.
Now. after all this,, i would really aprecciate if first , as a citizen that lives out of the tourism, to encourage people not to come, for the sake of this contingency.
but , rest assure that once this is over the place is as safe as it could be anywhere in a situation like this. and probably more since tourism is the number 1 resource of this whole area.
and 3rd. if the is a way anyone reading this post. could someone tell me in which resort they stayed at?
Like i metioned before. locally we`ve been told that there is no confirmed cases, but this 2 are clearly the support that there are some more in the area and would be great hel if with that info the authoirities or the local media would trace the source.
Thanks and hope you well. A
- Alejandro, Playa del Carmen ,MEXICO, 30/04/2009 07:57
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I would hazard a guess , but this disease is going to be more fatal for people from the third world who have very poor nutrition and live in sub standard housing and sanitation.
There have been a few cases in the developed world and so far PG, no fatalities.
Mexico has terrible social housing and health care and i would suspect any flu outbreak with a severe strain would cause a lot of fatalities, so although its sad for the people of Mexico to be suffering in this way, so far there has not been the same impact here, and i dont think there will be.
- Brian, Wiltshire, 29/04/2009 12:18
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We are being softened up to accept mandatory vaccinations. Baxter, who deliberately contaminated some of their vaccines with bird flu, have been handed the contract to make swine flu vaccine. You just couldn't make this stuff up.
- Neil, London, London UK, 28/04/2009 13:47
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Ok, lets not panic, it's flu which can kill you but probably wont.I'm not seeing any practical advice here, so here's some if you're worried.
If you smoke, give up, it raises the risk of dying (I'm trying to do this now 
)
Diet is important, make sure you're eating enough; good food, i.e. fruit are important, but just getting enough calories will help.
Take a suppliment, some sort of vitamin mix may help. This is complicated and I don't want to get into a big debate about this, but it wont hurt.
Relax, your mental health is important, just smile, put your head back and go "Yay"! or what ever, it doesn't matter, just chill and feel comfy 
On that note, kisses and hugs to the ladies, hugs to the men; you're all amazing and I hope you know that That's how we make it through
- Ian, london, 28/04/2009 13:22
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"...Brown is trying to save his own bacon..."
- Mike, London England
BOOM, BOOM!
Mike, you are of course correct. How lucky for the Government to have this come along in the wake of the "Budget", to deflect attention, because, as we know from bird flu, a good old sensasionalist killer illness of "potentially millions" to drag out the hyperbole,(and to make wild comparisons with epidemics of centuries past)is far more interesting than reporting on real issues for the UK, such as huge debt, MRSA, as you say, and fighting ongoing, unending, unnecessary wars.
I feel so comforted to learn that Mr Askham works for Scottish Power...makes the story SO much more worthwhile.
- Escobar-Alop-Lop, Camden County, 28/04/2009 11:29
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Personally I am more concerned about the 37000+ people that have died of MRSA etc in our NHS hospitals since Labour came in. We have had SARS,BSE,etc and now this Swine Flu but the biggest killer here is the filth in our NHS hospitals. As per usual Brown is trying to save his own bacon by diverting the real problems here in UK he has caused.
- Mike, London England, 28/04/2009 09:57
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