H1N1: Spain reports death from swine flu virus mutation

Spanish health ministry has reported that a Spanish patient, infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu A(H1N1) virus, has died.

"We have registered three cases of this mutation, including one which was fatal. We believe these are three isolated cases, and that there has been no transmission to any other person," a ministry spokesman reports.

It is the sixth officially reported fatal case of this mutation of the A(H1N1) virus in Europe, health minsters have acknowledged one in the Netherlands and two each in France and Norway.

Last month the WHO said that this mutation had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, Italy and the United States as early as April 2009.