Experts confirm Ohio’s first death caused by swine flu

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Ohio Department of Health has confirmed that a southwest Ohio man is the first person infected with swine flu to die in the state.

State health officials said Thursday that they are not releasing the name of the Butler County man who was described as in his 40s and who died at Fort Hamilton Hospital in Hamilton. The hospital would not comment.

The health department says the death Monday was the first one in Ohio linked to the pandemic strain of influenza. The health department says the patient had underlying health problems.

The state has reported 108 confirmed and six probable swine flu cases to date.

Meanwhile, researchers say they have found the reason swine flu is — so far — more a series of local blazes than a wide-raging wildfire.

The new virus, H1N1, has a protein on its surface that is not very efficient at binding with receptors in people’s respiratory tracts, researchers at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology report in today’s edition of the journal Science.