Australia records third H1N1 death

Melbourne, Australia: A 50-year-old woman with life-threatening cancer became the third Australian with swine flu to die yesterday, as Indonesia and Cambodia reported their first confirmed cases.

The Australian fatality is the fourth swine flu-related death in the Asia-Pacific region. The Philippines reported a patient with the virus died on Monday.

The Australian woman was admitted to a Melbourne hospital on Saturday with respiratory illness and died yesterday, a day after testing positive for swine flu, Victoria state Health Minister Daniel Andrews said.

Authorities are not certain whether any of the three swine flu-related deaths in Australia were directly caused by the virus because all of them had other serious illnesses.Australia confirmed 2,873 swine flu cases as of yesterday, an increase of 140 in a day.

Medical advocates have urged the government to make efforts to protect Aborigines, who often live in unhygienic townships with limited medical services, making them especially vulnerable.

The Northern Territory, which has the country's highest proportion of Aborigines, reported the nation's highest swine flu infection rate per capita - 35 cases per 100,000 people.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said on Tuesday that authorities were taking steps to ensure that indigenous communities had adequate supplies of antiviral medication.

Australia's nearest Asian neighbour, Indonesia, announced its first swine flu infections on Wednesday.

A British woman and an Indonesian pilot who had been abroad were recovering after being admitted to hospitals with fever and flu-like symptoms.

Health Minister Siti Fadil Supari said the patients have been isolated and that "the disease has not yet spread in Indonesia".