Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Wimbledon officials play down flu fears

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -Wimbledon officials had to play down swine flu fears Monday after four ball boys and girls were asked to stay home with flu symptoms.

Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of the All England Club, issued a statement about the flu cases and asked all visitors and personnel to stay away from the championships if they develop any symptoms.

However, All England Club spokesman Henry O'Grady said there was no reason to suspect that swine flu had reached the tournament.


"There's no one that has swine flu,'' O'Grady said. "There are a couple of people that have flu symptoms, and as a result they've been asked to stay at home. ... They haven't been tested for swine flu, and they're not going to be tested.''

O'Grady said he did not have any information about the staffers' ages or genders, or whether they went to the same school.

A 73-year-old man infected with swine flu died at a hospital outside Glasgow on Saturday, and a 38-year-woman died of the disease in Scotland earlier this month.

There have been more than 4,300 confirmed cases of swine flu in Britain.




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