S. Korean infant dies after Influenza A infection

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; CLARIFIES tests still underway; ADDS death of 64-year-old
cancer patient)
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Yonhap) -- A two-month-old South Korean baby infected with
Influenza A (H1N1) has died, health officials said Sunday, in what could be the
first case here of the contagious disease claiming the life of someone under 30.
The female infant, a resident of the Seoul metropolitan area, died of acute heart
failure at a hospital on Oct. 6 while visiting relatives in the country's
southeast with her parents, officials said.
In a posthumous medical test, the infant was confirmed the following day to have
been infected with Influenza A virus. Additional tests were still being conducted
to confirm whether her death was directly related to the flu, according to the
officials.
"The infant began to have a cough on Sept. 25 and was rushed to a hospital
emergency room on Oct. 5. Because she was tested for the new flu belatedly, she
was not given Tamiflu," said a government official.
Also Sunday, officials said a 64-year-old lung cancer patient died on Saturday
after being diagnosed with Influenza A the previous day. The patient, a man
living in the Seoul area, had shown flu-like symptoms before testing positive for
the new flu virus, they said.
If the two latest deaths are confirmed as being related to Influenza A virus, the
nation's death toll from the contagious disease will rise to 14.
South Korea reported its first new flu outbreak in early May, with the number of
infections reaching more than 15,000. Most have fully recovered, but health
experts say the disease could spread at a more rapid pace this fall and winter.
On Aug. 15, South Korea reported its first H1N1 virus-related death -- a man in
his 50s who had returned from a trip to Thailand.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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