The recent death of a 44-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man cannot be conclusively linked to swine flu, the health department said on Wednesday.

After the man's death a week ago, tests were done in a private laboratory and a specimen was sent to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) to determine the cause of death, spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said in a statement.

"Due to the insufficient specimen, the cause of death in this regard cannot conclusively be attributed to H1N1."

The man, who had been in Swaziland with two friends between 27 and 29 June, developed bronchitis and was hospitalised by a specialist physician. He developed respiratory distress and died in Mount Edgecombe Hospital last Thursday.

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said: "He got sick on the 16 July 2009 with flu-like symptoms like cough, diarrhoea, tight chest, body pain and sore throat."

The victim's family were healthy and showed no signs of H1N1.

"We are following up on the other workplace contacts as well as any other contacts that were in close proximity with the deceased," the MEC said.

So far, only the death of 22-year-old Stellenbosch University student Ruan Muller had been directly linked to the H1N1 virus based on laboratory confirmation by the NICD, said Hadebe.

Dhlomo said there were 42 other confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in KwaZulu-Natal — 11 in Durban, 24 in Pietermaritzburg, five in Empangeni/ Richards Bay, one in Ballito and one in Pennington.

First recorded case

Swine flu — medically known as the H1N1 virus — was first recorded in South Africa in the middle of June.

Also on Wednesday a pharmaceutical company announced it had begun clinical trials of a vaccine in July. According to the company's website, Novartis had secured several orders for H1N1 vaccines and was in discussions with more than 35 governments.

Pending approval, it expects deliveries to global government customers to begin later this year and to continue in 2010.

Hadebe said there was no information available yet on whether the South African government also planned to place an order.

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) latest bulletin records that as of July 2009, 168 countries and overseas territories or communities had reported at least one laboratory confirmed case of the pandemic, with all continents affected.

As of 31 July, there were 162 380 recorded cases, although this will have changed given that Africa's total for that date was 229, but the latest NICD figure for South Africa, supplied on 3 August, was 480.

The WHO reported that 1154 people had died as of that date, but stressed that the numbers might be understated.

Health specialists in South Africa had been at pains to emphasise that most people with the virus recovered after a period of rest and that it was only the onset of complications, such as respiratory infections that should prompt a visit to a doctor.

Pregnant women, diabetics and people with lung problems were at a higher risk of complications.

Dhlomo urged the public to take all the precautionary measures — regular washing of hands with a detergent, proper cough and sneezing hygiene and to seek medical attention when feeling unwell.

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