2nd LD Writethru: At least one person dies of swine flu in Finland

At least one person died of swine flu recently in Turku, southern Finland, reported Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat late Friday.

Esa Rintala, senior physician at the infection control unit of the Turku University Hospital, told Helsingin Sanomat that two patients had died of influenza in the hospital recently and at least one of them was infected by the swine flu virus.

He said five patients had been treated in the intensive care since the epidemic started in southwestern Finland about two weeks ago. He said the number was larger than usual and therefore he suggested that it is a more dramatic epidemic.

Niina Ikonen, senior researcher at the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare, told the daily that the flu epidemic was already well underway throughout Finland, and the dominant virus currently seemed to be a descendant of A (H1N1) influenza virus pdm09.

Cases of influenza have increased dramatically at the turn of the year and the peak period may be witnessed in the coming weeks, said Ikonen. Endit