BOSTON (AP) — A Boston woman in her 30s is the first swine flu-related death in Massachusetts, health officials announced Monday.
State and city health officials said at a Monday news conference that the woman who died Sunday had some other medical issues but they are not sure if they directly contributed to her death.
But Barbara Ferrer, director of the city public health commission, said the victim did have a confirmed case of swine flu. Officials would not release the woman’s name or other details about her. Officials also said they are still investigating the case.
“We believe very much that this is a reminder that flu can be serious,” Department of Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach said at the news conference. “But we are relieved, overwhelmingly, that cases (have been) mild.”
The woman had been hospitalized for about a week, officials said.
The state’s first reported death from swine flu comes as the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Massachusetts top 1,000.
Last week, the World Health Organization declared swine flu a pandemic, the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.
Two more Boston schools — the Carter Development Center and Louis Agassiz Elementary School — announced Friday that were closing for a week due to swine flu precautions.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less