By Alison Campsie and Helen McArdle
A TINY newborn baby whose mother is critically ill with swine flu continues to fight for its life, as the number of confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus rises again.
Figures released by the Scottish government last night showed there were 13 new confirmed H1N1 cases, taking the total to 154. Two of the new cases are in Fife, three in Forth Valley, five in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and three in Highland.
The baby was born almost three months early at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and is being looked after in intensive care.
The baby's mother, 38, also remains in the unit at the RAH, with her condition described as "critical but stable".
The mother was admitted suffering from the virus and underlying health problems, but it is understood that her baby is not infected by swine flu.
An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokeswoman said: "The baby was delivered at the Royal Alexandra Hospital on Monday afternoon at 29 weeks gestation. Appropriate senior staff were present.
"The baby has been looked after in intensive care as expected for a baby of this gestation."
The mother is one of three people still in intensive care at the RAH. A man aged 45 is critical but stable, and a 23-year-old woman admitted last Thursday is stable and improving.
A 14-month-old with swine flu is also being treated at Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow.
The previous round of confirmed cases on Friday included two doctors at the RAH. The Scottish government said it was likely they both caught the virus from the patients in intensive care.
The doctors' diagnosis comes after a nurse at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow became the first health worker in the UK to contract swine flu, She caught it from a patient who was later transferred to the Paisley hospital as their condition deteriorated.
The latest medical-staff cases have come despite fresh advice on how to deal with the virus being given to hospital workers.
The Scottish government said it would not be routinely providing medical staff with anti-viral drugs in the wake of the cases. A spokeswoman said whether to administer drugs "will be a clinical decision following a risk assessment and it will be taken on a case-by-case basis".
Scotland now accounts for a quarter of all cases of the virus in the UK. There are now also 91 possible cases, 30 in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.
Given the acceleration in the area, GPs are now routinely testing those patients with severe flu symptoms in the three areas of Scotland which have been hit by cluster outbreaks. They are Paisley, south Glasgow and Argyll and Bute. In the town of Dunoon alone, more than 60 people have contracted swine flu and several schools have shut.
The number of cases in the UK has now reached 541, with 19 more people in England testing positive for the virus.
Internationally, the number of swine flu cases recorded by the World Health Organisation is 21,940 across 69 countries. This includes 125 deaths.
Numbers continue to rise swiftly in several countries. The number of confirmed swine flu cases in Australia rose to 1009 yesterday, more than triple the number just one week ago.
The vast majority of the cases - 874 - are in the southern state of Victoria, prompting several other Australian states and territories to quarantine schoolchildren returning home from Victoria.
