The Hawai‘i State Department of Health has confirmed the novel H1N1 influenza infection in an adult male who died on July 19 at a hospital on the Big Island.
He was in his early 50s and had underlying medical conditions. The Big Island resident is the fourth death in the state associated with the new flu strain, and one of the more than 300 reported nationwide over the past few months, according to the CDC Web site.
No further information about the patient's medical condition before death or identification will be released due to patient privacy considerations and federal law.
“The primary cause of death was influenza pneumonia, but the patient’s underlying medical conditions were a contributing factor,” said Dr. Sarah Park, chief of the Disease Outbreak Control Division and state epidemiologist. “The department currently is focusing its investigation and testing on critical cases and focused clusters as a way to monitor when this pandemic virus might change to something that causes more severe disease.”
Earlier today, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly update of confirmed cases of swine flu show 1,424 cases in Hawaii.

The CDC said this morning there are 43,771 confirmed cases in all 50 states and the territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the Virgin Islands.
The CDC said today’s report will be the last in which individual confirmed cases will be listed. Future reports will list the total number of hospitalizations and deaths each week.
The CDC says the number of confirmed cases is likely the tip of an iceberg since the figures represent only those patients who sought treatment for the virus.
Swine flu has thus far been relatively benign, but health officials are concerned because it has continued to spread during the summer, normally the off season for flus. They expect to see a spike in cases during the fall and winter.
Health officials also are watching to see if the virus mutates and becomes resistant to flu treatments such as Tamiflu.
The CDC says swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of Americans over the next two years and as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren’t successful.
Those estimates mean about twice the number of people who usually get sick in a normal flu season would be struck by swine flu. Officials said those projections would drop if a new vaccine is ready and widely available, as U.S. officials expect.
The U.S. may have as many as 160 million doses of swine flu vaccine available sometime in October, and U.S. tests of the new vaccine are to start shortly, federal officials said this week.
The World Health Organization says as many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two years — nearly one-third of the world population. The estimates look at potential impacts over a two-year period because past flu pandemics have occurred in waves over more than one year.
WHO officials believe the world is in the early phase of the new pandemic.
First identified in April, swine flu has likely infected more than 1 million Americans, the CDC believes, with many of those suffering mild cases never reported.
Because the swine flu virus is new, most people haven’t developed an immunity against it. So far, most of those who have died from it in the United States have had other health problems, such as asthma.
The virus has caused an unusual number of serious illnesses in teens and young adults; seasonal flu usually is toughest on the elderly and very young children.
For more information on swine flu, go to the CDC Web site at: www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm .

View a state-by-state comparison and H1N1 resources at www.honoluluadvertiser.com/section/swineflu .