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Mom dies after childbirth, first flu fatality in Spain

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-30 21:30

MADRID: A 20-year-old woman in Madrid became Spain's first A(H1N1) flu fatality on Tuesday, dying a day after giving birth via Cesarean section, the Health Ministry said.

The Moroccan woman had a history of asthma and died of a respiratory disease caused by A(H1N1) flu, the ministry said.

She was 28 weeks pregnant and doctors performed a C-section on Monday as her condition worsened.

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The baby boy weighed 1.4 kilos (3 pounds) at birth and is now on a respirator in intensive care, Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez told a news conference.

A statement from the ministry described the child as healthy. But Jimenez said doctors will not know for a day or two if the baby has contracted the flu from his mother, who was hospitalized on June 15.

The ministry Web site says Spain now has 717 confirmed cases of A(H1N1) flu, a big jump from the 541 reported on Friday. Spain usually updates its figure once a week.

Most of its cases have been mild, But a 32-year-old man in Tarragona in the northeast Catalonia region has been in serious condition with the flu since last week.

There are also now two serious cases of A(H1N1) flu in the Madrid region, regional health minister Juan Jose Guemes told the news conference. The patients are an 8-year-old boy and a 35-year-old woman, he said.

The Moroccan woman's death raise Europe's known A(H1N1) flu death toll to four. The other three fatalities were in Britain.