REGINA - Saskatchewan has recorded its first swine flu-related death, provincial Health Ministry officials said Sunday.
Dr. Moira McKinnon, the province's chief medical officer of health, said a woman in her 40s with underlying health conditions had died after contracting the illness.
Citing patient privacy, she would not reveal where the woman was from.
McKinnon said the woman was one of the hospitalized cases the provincial government reported on Friday.
They've been expecting deaths due to this strain of flu.
"In seasonal influenza, we see 50 to 100 deaths per year in Saskatchewan. We expect to see hospitalizations and deaths with H1N1," she said.
Twenty-five people have died in Canada after contracting the illness.
Another death was reported in Quebec on Friday, bringing the total in the province to 12.
Health officials in Manitoba said Friday that an adult over 18 had died after testing positive for the illness, bringing the total number of deaths in that province to four.
In discussions with colleagues across the country, McKinnon said that they are noting some of the more common underlying health conditions of more seriously ill patients.
"The big ones are more the chronic obstructive airways disease, diabetes...and underlying immuno-supression, be that from use of drugs...or a disease itself that causes immuno-supression," she said.
Cardiac patients can also be more seriously affected, McKinnon said.
Earlier this month, health officials said there were about 200 confirmed cases of swine flu, but that has now escalated to just under 700 confirmed cases.
Publicity surrounding high rates of absenteeism in urban high schools in May prompted a surge in the number of people being tested for the illness, which may account for some of the increase, McKinnon said.
But she insisted the rise in confirmed cases is not a cause for concern.
Earlier this month, the Saskatchewan government announced it would increase swine flu surveillance in northern communities, including aboriginal settlements, which appear to be more vulnerable to the disease.
More patients are being tested, they're being treated earlier and transported out of their communities if they are seriously ill.
In Manitoba, aboriginal leaders have declared a state of emergency in their communities because of the swine flu.
Some chiefs said last week that Health Canada had been withholding hand sanitizers from flu-stricken communities because they contain alcohol.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during a stop in Halifax on Thursday that he's concerned about the health of native people on reserves.
He said federal health officials are trying to determine why aboriginal people appear to be harder hit by this illness.
While aboriginals only make up about 10 per cent of Manitoba's population, they account for roughly two-thirds of the people who have required intensive care for swine flu.
Saskatchewan is still waiting for the full picture to emerge from some of its isolated communities.
"We have seen some clusters of influenza-like illness in communities bordering Manitoba, but again they've been mild. We've had about 22 confirmed cases," McKinnon said.
Saskatchewan health officials are also testing mild illness in specific remote communities, which they're not doing with the general population, she said.
McKinnon is expecting to see more seriously ill patients due to the H1N1 flu strain.
"It will infect upward of 20 to 30 per cent (of the population), as compared to a seasonal influenza which infects 10 per cent."
The federal government has asked the province to be ready for universal vaccination programs starting in November.
