Six-year-old and doctor take swine flu death toll to 17

one of my son school mate had swine flu at school.

hope he or she will be okay.


A young girl and a GP were yesterday named as the latest victims of swine flu.

Chloe Buckley, six, and Dr Michael Day, 64, died shortly after contracting the virus.

It was not known whether they died directly from the bug.

But, as the death toll hit 17, Chloe’s primary school was yesterday shut as a precaution.

Daphne May, 62, whose granddaughter was friends with the child, said: “She was a beautiful girl.

“She had chest and heart problems and I think it made it worse.”

Chris Spencer, the council’s director of education, added: “We decided to close the school despite national advice they stay open. This is an exceptional set of circumstances and she was perfectly healthy until a few days ago.”

Chloe, of North West London, apparently complained of a sore throat last Wednesday and her GP gave her Tamiflu.

But she got worse overnight, was rushed to hospital and died the next day.

Dr Day, a busy family doctor from Bedfordshire, died on Saturday as a swab test confirmed he had the H1N1 virus. Postmortems are now being carried out to find the exact cause of their deaths.

So far only one of the 17 victims are known to have died from the disease without having any other illnesses.

Friends of Dr Day, who was married and thought to have four children, were yesterday in shock. Dr Paul Hassan, senior partner at Priory Gardens health centre in Dun-stable where he worked, said: “We are devastated. Dr Day was a colleague and also a friend to everyone at the practice.”

A neighbour of keen sailor Dr Day, of Leighton Buzzard, added: “He would work 24 hours a day if necessary to look after his patients.”

The GP was the medic at Leighton Buzzard Rugby Club, where the flag was flying at half-mast last night.

Chairman Graham Blower said he was always available to players