Swine Flu Kills Healthy Woman

For the fifth time in San Diego County, an adult with no underlying medical conditions has died from the swine flu, officials said.

The patient was described as a 43-year-old woman. A county spokesperson could not divulge where the woman lived, worked or was treated.

This is the sixth death in the county for patients with no other medical conditions other than the H1N1 virus according to a spokesperson from County Health and Human Services Agency. County officials originally said on Tuesday that the woman was the first adult to die in San Diego with no underlying medical conditions, then said that the latest victim was, in fact, the fifth adult.

The only child to fall victim to the virus without any other medical issues was 5-year-old Alitza Ortiz-Sanchez, whose heart simply stopped beating after she was rushed to Children's Hospital on Oct. 9.

Three additional deaths were reported Tuesday, including a 58-year-old man, a 29-year-old woman and a 27-year-old woman. All three had other medical conditions.

San Diego County has had 564 hospitalized cases of pandemic H1N1 Influenza to date. There have been 32 deaths of San Diego County residents associated with H1N1, plus four deaths of non-residents.

On Tuesday, schools began administering H1N1 vaccines to students. They expect to distribute 20,000 doses in the first stage.

Currently, the county's six public health centers and vaccination clinic report that they have very limited supplies of H1N1 nasal spray vaccine. Nasal spray vaccine is for healthy individuals in the CDC priority groups which include children and young adults 2 to 24 years-old, and household contacts (25 to 49 years old) of infants less than 6 months.

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