A 71-year-old woman became the fourth swine flu-related death in Australia in a week, an official said yesterday.
Her death was the fifth in the Asia-Pacific region, with the Philippines reporting on Monday that a virus-infected patient had died.
The Australian woman is also the third to die with the virus in Victoria, the state where 1,509 of Australia’s 3,280 swine flu cases had been confirmed by yesterday, state acting chief health officer Rosemary Lester said.
Relatives of the woman, who died on Thursday, asked that no details of her medical history be revealed, Lester said.
The first three Australians who died suffered from other serious ailments and authorities have not determined that swine flu was the direct cause of death.
The first was a 26-year-old Aboriginal man with chronic heart, lung and kidney problems who died in a South Australia state hospital yesterday last week.
A 35-year-old man with severe ailments and a 50-year-old with cancer died in the Victoria state capital, Melbourne.
Lester said swine flu was generally mild, but could affect those with pre-existing medical conditions.
“We know that for people with chronic medical conditions, influenza can be severe,” she said in a statement.
Malaysia’s Health Ministry confirmed 14 more swine flu cases yesterday, bringing the country’s total to 105. It said in a statement that 40 of the patients still remained in hospitals.
Thai authorities have been worried recently about a swine flu outbreak on a naval base on Thursday after seven cadets tested positive and 200 more fell ill.
Press reports said Papua New Guinea’s health minister was quarantined with flu symptoms and was awaiting results of tests after visiting Australia.
Cambodian Health Minister Mam Bun Heng told reporters that three students who arrived from the US state of Texas on June 19 had tested positive for the virus.
The WHO said on Wednesday that 55,867 cases of swine flu had been recorded in more than 100 countries and they had contributed to 238 deaths.
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