Quebec woman dies after contracting swine flu

A Quebec woman has become the fourth Canadian to die after getting swine flu, health officials said Monday.

Dr. Alain Poirier, Quebec's national director of public health, said the woman — who was from the Quebec City area — died on Friday, three days after she began showing symptoms.

Poirier said she was older than 65, but he did not know her exact age.

He said she had not travelled recently to Mexico, where the recent strain of H1N1 influenza A virus first appeared in April.

This is the first reported swine flu death in Quebec.

Two Toronto men who had the H1N1 virus died in May while a 39-year-old northern Alberta woman died in late April.