PHOENIX – A woman in Arizona suffering from a lung condition has apparently become the fourth person in the nation to die with swine flu.
The Maricopa County Health Department reported Thursday that the woman, in her late 40s, died last week of what appears to be complications of the new strain of influenza.
Laboratory tests confirmed that the woman was infected with the flu strain. Health department spokeswoman Jeanene Fowler says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to add her to the official national tally on Friday.
The case would bring the number of swine flu deaths in the nation to four and put the worldwide death toll at 70, with an estimated 6,672 cases in 33 countries.