tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
A FATHER of three was in a critical condition today after being struck down by a new outbreak of potentially deadly swine flu.
He was on a life support machine in the Southport and Formby District General Hospital, but plans were in place to transfer him to another hospital for more specialist treatment.
The man, in his 30s and said to work for the Royal Mail, was admitted to the ward on Wednesday after feeling unwell. He is one of a number of people treated at the hospital for swine flu, since October.
A hospital spokesman confirmed the number admitted was ?in single figures?, but would not give a specific number or any details on the age of the patients.
The hospital?s current patient will be taken via air ambulance over the next 24 hours to the Glenfield hospital in Leicester, the ECHO understands, for specialist treatment in an ECMO bed.
ECMO, which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, is a way of breathing for the patient and pumping blood around the body when the heart and lungs are severely damaged.
Other hospitals on Merseyside have also admitted patients suffering from swine flu in recent weeks, with numbers set to rise as the busiest months for flu approach.
It is understood to be the same H1N1 strain of the disease that caused widespread panic last year when a global pandemic was forecast to kill millions rather than a new strain.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...r-of-three-fighting-for-life-100252-27800946/
He was on a life support machine in the Southport and Formby District General Hospital, but plans were in place to transfer him to another hospital for more specialist treatment.
The man, in his 30s and said to work for the Royal Mail, was admitted to the ward on Wednesday after feeling unwell. He is one of a number of people treated at the hospital for swine flu, since October.
A hospital spokesman confirmed the number admitted was ?in single figures?, but would not give a specific number or any details on the age of the patients.
The hospital?s current patient will be taken via air ambulance over the next 24 hours to the Glenfield hospital in Leicester, the ECHO understands, for specialist treatment in an ECMO bed.
ECMO, which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, is a way of breathing for the patient and pumping blood around the body when the heart and lungs are severely damaged.
Other hospitals on Merseyside have also admitted patients suffering from swine flu in recent weeks, with numbers set to rise as the busiest months for flu approach.
It is understood to be the same H1N1 strain of the disease that caused widespread panic last year when a global pandemic was forecast to kill millions rather than a new strain.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...r-of-three-fighting-for-life-100252-27800946/