A FURTHER case of swine flu has been reported in connection to a North Yorkshire school closed recently due to a pupil catching the virus.

Ripon Grammar School closed on Thursday, June 11, after symptoms of the virus were shown by a 12-year-old female pupil.

The school re-opened on June 18 as no other pupils or staff had the virus and the pupil affected had recovered.

But a parent of another two pupils at the school, on Clotherholme Road, has caught the virus. Both students are at the school still and are taking Tamiflu.

Headteacher Martin Pearman took the decision after seeking advice on the situation from the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

He said: "Hopefully now we are back to normal and there will be no future outbreaks.

"We took advice over the closure and the Health Protection Agency has given us the all clear and the students are back and raring to go.

"The students are looking keen and eager to get going which is good."

Mr Pearman has also put a statement on the school’s website relating to the current situation.

It states ‘However a case of swine flu has been confirmed in one of our parents.

‘I have consulted with the HPA and there is no reason why this parent’s children should not return to school, provided they are asymptomatic. Both children are already taking Tamiflu.’.

Across the Yorkshire and Humber region the HPA has recorded 34 cases of swine flu as of June 17 with 1,062 in England as a whole.

Dr Peter Brambleby, director of public health at NHS North Yorkshire and York, said: "Its good news Ripon Grammar School has reopened and that the measures taken to minimise the spread of the virus appear to have been effective.

"A close contact of one of the pupils has now been confirmed as having swine flu. This person is receiving anti-viral medication and is responding to treatment."