Swine flu kills American man, reaches Japan and Australia

A Washington state man with H1N1 influenza died last week, health officials said, the third US sufferer to die as the new flu strain confirmed in more than 2,200 Americans appeared in Japan and Australia. Health officials have warned that the true number of cases may be underestimated. Although most cases appear to be mild, the new swine flu strain has killed just as seasonal flu does. Another 48 people have died in Mexico and one each in Canada and Costa Rica.

Meanwhile, Japan reported four cases, and globally officials reported more than 4,200 people in 30 countries had been ill. Australia reported its first case, a woman who been travelling in the US but officials said she had made full recovery.

Washington state officials said on Saturday a man in his 30s with underlying heart conditions died last week, state governor Chris Gregoire describing his death as “a sobering reminder that influenza is serious.”

The virus has moved into the southern hemisphere, where influenza season is beginning, and could mix with circulating seasonal flu viruses or the H5N1 avian influenza virus to create new strains.

“One of the challenges with influenza viruses is the way that they change, the way they combine and their prevalence in a number of species,” Anne Schuchat of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said.

“This is why it is important for countries to have a capacity to deal with influenza and why it is important to understand what happens at the interface between people and animals. There are 3,000 probable and confirmed cases in the US,” Schuchat said.
“The good news is we are not seeing a rise above epidemic threshold."