French school camp hit by H1N1 flu outbreak

A group of 23 teenagers from the Paris region have fallen ill with the H1N1 flu virus at a school camp in the Alps and have been isolated in special rooms at the centre, a local official said today.

"At the moment they are being treated there," said the official with the local prefecture, adding that doctors were sent to the camp on Saturday. About 10 other children at the camp, also from the Paris area, have no symptoms, he said.

Yesterday, the French authorities said there were 434 confirmed cases of H1N1 in France, 383 of them in the capital, and that 309 of the cases had originated abroad.

Also yesterday, the British health authorities announced the first death from H1N1, also known as swine flu, of an otherwise healthy patient. All previous deaths from H1N1 in Britain had been of people with other serious health problems.