Russia registers first swine flu death

The first victim is a female medic who has recently returned from Bulgaria. Her condition steadily deteriorated over a period of two weeks and she tested positive a day before she died.

"Upon receiving her samples, we immediately diagnosed her with swine flu but could not take any measures because she died the next day," Vesti quoted academician Dmitry Lvov, director of the Moscow-based Institute of Virology, as saying.

The expert did not specify the date of the death, but said the spread of swine flu in Russia was inevitable and unstoppable.

"It is already among us. In my estimate, there are tens of thousands of infected [in Russia]. I can not prove it right now, but I will have the proof in a couple of weeks," Lvov said.

Meanwhile, Russia's chief sanitary official Gennady Onishchenko said last week a total of 372 cases of A/H1N1 infection, also known as swine flu, were registered in Russia as of September 16. He never mentioned deaths from swine flu infection in the country.

World Health Organization report said last Friday more than 4,000 people have died from swine flu worldwide, with the total number of officially confirmed cases reaching 295,000.