By T.J. Aulds
The Daily News

Published October 29, 2009

A Galveston woman who died as a result of the swine flu was being treated for the virus at the University of Texas Medical Branch and died nine days ago, the county’s health district said Wednesday.

Neither the health district nor the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s office would provide more details, including the name of the woman who died.

Galveston County Health District spokesman Kurt Koopmann repeated statements he made Wednesday that the Galveston woman was between 30 and 35 years old.

The health district also clarified she had died Oct. 20 and that the swine flu was not confirmed until Tuesday.

The Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office was unable to provide the information because the chief medical examiner and the lead investigator were both out of town Wednesday.

Health district officials said they are tracking the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu.

“Health departments are collecting reports of flu-like illnesses from schools and the medical community just like they do during a normal flu season,” Koopmann said.

“Health departments may also receive reports of positive flu tests for seasonal or H1N1 flu, but we expect fewer tests since testing is done by private providers who may or may not perform a test to distinguish the type of flu. In many ways, flu is flu.

“There is no requirement for a provider to test since treatments are the same.”

Koopmann said since August, the health district had confirmed 851 positive flu cases; of those, 99 were confirmed to be swine flu.

More than 350 cases of the flu could not be specified, while about 400 cases of the flu were determined to be Flu A, Koopmann said.

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Flu in Galveston County

Number of confirmed cases of flu from Aug. 1 to Oct. 28: 851

H1N1: 99

Flu A: 395

Flu B: 3

Undifferentiated flu: 354

SOURCE: Galveston County Health District

Kurt Koopmann

kkoopman@gchd.org