The first Swine Flu fatality outside Mexico

The first fatality from Swine Flu outside Mexico has been reported. It is a 23-month-old child in Houston, Texas, USA.

Very little information about the case is available at present. We do not know how the child contracted the disease or what the mode of death was. The child was from Mexico, and had traveled with family from Mexico to Brownsville in South Texas. The child became ill in Brownsville and was taken to a Houston hospital and died on Monday night.

The death was confirmed by Dr Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Unfortunately this morning I do have to confirm that we have the first death of a child from H1N1 flu virus,” he told US TV channel CBS.

So far, there are 64 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in the USA. This death equates to a 1.5% mortality rate from the disease, similar to the death rate from the disease in Mexico.