Japan records first death from H1N1 fluPosted: 15 August 2009 1607 hrs
TOKYO : A 57-year-old Japanese man, who suffered from a chronic ailment, has died from H1N1 flu in the country's first death from the virus, a local government official said Saturday.
The man, a resident of Ginowan city in Japan's southern Okinawa prefecture, died of the A(H1N1) virus Saturday morning after developing complications, the official said.
The man, 57, who was hospitalised on Wednesday, had a chronic kidney condition and had previously experienced both kidney failure and cardiac arrest, another local official said.
He was receiving dialysis treatment for his kidney condition and had no recent records of travelling abroad, he added.
"The new flu is spreading quickly in Okinawa prefecture," the official said. "When the man was hospitalised, it was already suspected that he was infected with the virus."
The number of H1N1 flu cases in Japan topped 5,000 late last month, stoking concern that transmission of the virus is accelerating.
It hit Japan in early May and quickly spread to high schools in the western cities of Kobe and Osaka before infecting the wider population.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/449025/1/.htmlPHOTO: Commuters wearing masks as a precaution against the A(H1N1) flu walk through a station in the morning rush hour in Kobe, western Japan
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