Costa Rica health authorities on Sunday reported the nation's third A/H1N1 flu death of a 55-year-old man, who died on Monday last week.

The man had been hospitalized for in San Jose with severe pneumonia, and had been suffering from lung blockages before catching the flu, the Health Ministry said. He had been a smoker since age 13.

Costa Rica's first death was on May 9, and its second on June 23, that of a woman suffering obesity.

Authorities are testing samples taken from people with serious cases of pneumonia, even after they have died, for traces of A/H1N1, Costa Rica's health minister, Maria Luisa Avila, told Xinhua. The country currently has 229 confirmed cases and 77 samples of possible cases awaiting test results.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2009)