THE second swine flu death victim outside Mexico was a 33-year-old teacher who had recently given birth, health officials in the US announced today.
THE second swine flu death victim outside Mexico was a 33-year-old teacher who had recently given birth, health officials in the US announced today.
The death came as the World Health Organisation updated its worldwide total of confirmed human cases of swine flu to 1,516.
A state health department spokeswoman in Texas said the woman had "chronic underlying health conditions" but would not give any more details.
She said the flu exacerbated the woman's condition. "The swine flu is very benign by itself, by the time she came to see us it was already too late,'' she said.
There have been 29 other confirmed swine flu deaths, all in Mexico. More than 1,800 cases of the disease have been confirmed in several countries, but mostly in Mexico and the US
The teacher was from Harlingen, a city of about 63,000 near the US-Mexico border. The district where she worked announced it would close its schools for the rest of the week.
The teacher was first seen by a doctor on April 14 and was taken into hospital on the 19th. The woman delivered a healthy baby and stayed in the hospital until her death.
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