A 12-year-old boy from Canvey has been diagnosed with swine flu.

The diagnosis comes as a woman in her seventies from Basildon was also confirmed as having the virus.

Joe Bland, 12, of Broomfield Green, Canvey, has spoken to the Echo about the ordeal after picking up the virus while on holiday in Mexico.

The youngster attends Castle View School, where at least 160 other children in his year have been put on a course of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. The school has been shut.

Joe was on holiday with his family when he picked up the virus, which was diagnosed by a doctor five days after they returned.

Joe said he did not start showing swine flu symptoms until Tuesday.

He said: “I felt really ill for that one night and I’ve been a bit achy and a bit wheezy since, but I am getting much better now.”

Joe’s mum Louise, 33, added: “I kept him off school for a week after we got back from Mexico as a precaution, even though he wasn’t showing any symptoms throughout that time.

“I checked with the school before sending him back for the day on Tuesday last week.

“Unfortunately, he came down with the symptoms that night, which started with him saying he had achy legs. He was physically sick overnight and had a high temperature.”

Louise phoned NHS Direct that night for advice and was told to call her GP, who she rung to organise a home visit the following day.

She said: “He tested Joe and put him and the rest of the family on the drugs. Thankfully he’s a lot better now and it really only affected him for a short period of time.”

Joe returned from the holiday in Mexico on April 30. Two other Castle View pupils from Year 8, and another boy who it is understood attends Cornelius Vermuyden School, in Dinant Avenue, Canvey, went with him on the foreign trip.