MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

INAUGURAL winner of the Governor’s Cup, Stan Smith returned to the Islands to play in the 50th Anniversary contest with his original arrows.

Headlines: First suspected case of swine flu ‘no need for concern’ says doctor; Young man’s death was ‘tragic accident’ Coroner rules.

First suspected case of swine flu ‘no need for concern’ says doctor

THE first case of swine flu may have occurred in the Falkland Islands but the patient is not seriously ill, the Chief Medical Officer has confirmed.

The teenager, believed to have been a member of the Island Games team who recently competed in Aland, had some limited contact with a person subsequently thought to have swine flu. When he began to show symptoms suggestive of a flu-like illness after his arrival in the Islands, he was isolated at home and Dr Roger Diggle says his medical condition had given no cause for concern.

“Initial tests here show the individual has Influenza A which might be swine flu. Further tests will be sent to the UK for confirmation but these will take at least a week and are technically difficult in that the sample must be received by the UK laboratory within 24 hours of the sample being taken. In order to prevent the possible spread of the disease the immediate contacts of the individual are being treated with Tamiflu.” Dr Diggle said.

The Falkland Islands cannot realistically expect to prevent swine flu from arriving, said Dr Diggle, and a number of people with suspicious symptoms have been tested. The best that could be done was to “slow the rate of spread to minimise the peak number of cases which will lessen the impact upon the community.”

Swine flu cases have reportedly been confirmed at Peter Symonds College in Winchester, a college attended by students from the Falklands who are due home now for their holidays.

One Falklands student told Penguin News they had been locked out of their boarding house for two hours each day to allow for the house to be cleaned to prevent the spread of the virus.

Dr Diggle said the returning students did not need to place themselves in quarantine. “The only people who needed to be in quarantine at home are those who were showing symptoms of the virus. There is no need for asymptomatic casual contacts to be quarantined.”

Any person due to fly should not travel if they are unwell with an infectious disease, he advised. “Assuming that when they arrive at MPA they are asymptomatic then they would be treated as any other passenger. If however someone arrives who is clearly unwell there is a process for them to be assessed by the MPA Medical Centre and then appropriate management decisions will be taken.”

There was no need for the general population to be concerned, Dr Diggle said. “Although there have been deaths associated with swine flu these do not appear to be any more common than with normal seasonal flu.”

He advised anyone who thinks they may have swine flu to remain at home and contact the hospital for advice by telephone on 28000 during normal working hours and 28052 out of normal hours.

Young man’s death was ‘tragic accident’ Coroner rules

A VERDICT of accidental death has been delivered by Her Majesty’s Coroner at the inquest into the death of a Stanley teenager.

Jonathan Felton, a 19 year old carpenter, was killed after the car in which he was traveling crashed on May 20, 2008.

The inquest had been adjourned to allow for the trial of the vehicle’s driver, Shaun May, who was acquitted.

In court on Thursday, evidence of witnesses to the accident was read out, relating events which the Coroner, Mr John Trevaskis, described as “not uncommon in Stanley” – a group of friends had gathered to chat, listen to music and take a drive in two cars traveling in convoy.

Mr Felton had been sitting on the rear passenger seat of Mr May’s Toyota Prado, with two other teenagers. It appeared that none of the five occupants of the vehicle had been wearing seat belts, Mr Trevaskis said. Near a bend in the Airport Road, Mr May had lost control of the Prado and it had skidded then rolled, ending up in a ditch. Mr Felton was thrown from the vehicle and later found underneath.

A port mortem examination, carried out using x-rays, had determined that Mr Felton had sustained a fracture dislocation of the spine which was unsurvivable and had resulted in instantaneous death.

Mr Trevaskis said he was satisfied on the evidence that Mr Felton had died as a result of a tragic accident. “This case highlights the importance of the use of seat belts by all occupants of all motor vehicles,” he said.