Woman dies after swine flu infection in Hong Kong

The patient was admitted to hospital on Tuesday for treatment for the A/H1N1 infection -- commonly known as swine flu -- but died later that day in intensive care, Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said in a statement.

"She suffered respiratory failure and was on ventilation support. Her condition continued to deteriorate...the patient was certified daed on the same day," the statement said.

A 16-year-old boy was also being treated in intensive care for the swine flu infection, it added.

On Friday, a spokeswoman for the city's Queen Elizabeth Hospital told AFP that a 21-year-old woman and a two-year-old girl were in critical condition after contracting swine flu.

There was no update on their condition, but the Hospital Authority said 15 flu patients were being treated in intensive care in Hong Kong's public hospitals, without specifying which strain of the illness they had contracted.

The Chinese financial centre is nervous about infectious diseases, following an outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003, which killed 300 people in the city and a further 500 around the world.

The city's health department said that the deadly swine flu had claimed 83 lives since an outbreak in 2009.

There are concerns the disease could spread over the next few weeks in the run-up to Lunar New Year, when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel across the country to celebrate with families.

(c) 2011 AFP