Costa Rican man dies of swine flu

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — Costa Rica reported the death of a 53-year-old man with swine flu Saturday, the first fatality from the epidemic outside of North America, while Japanese authorities scrambled to limit contacts with their first confirmed cases.

Like other deaths outside Mexico, the Costa Rican man suffered from complicating illnesses, including diabetes and chronic lung disease. The United States has reported the deaths of a toddler with a heart defect and a woman with rheumatoid arthritis. Canadian officials say tests show that a woman who died last month had the disease.

But in Mexico, where 48 people with swine flu have died, most of the victims have been adults ages 20 to 49, and many had no reported complicating factors.

The Costa Rican fatality was one of eight swine-flu cases in the Central American country confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Minister Maria Luisa Avila told The Associated Press. Previously, deaths had been reported only in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Avila said officials have been unable to determine how the Costa Rican patient became infected, but she said he had not recently traveled abroad. Many flu sufferers in other countries have been linked to recent trips to the United States or Mexico.