Australian officials on Wednesday said a 50-year-old cancer patient had become the country's third swine flu-related death.

The woman had been in intensive care with a severe respiratory illness since the weekend and was diagnosed with H1N1 influenza on Tuesday, said Victoria state's health minister Daniel Andrews.

"The woman died early today at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where she has been a long-term patient receiving treatment for cancer," Andrews said.

A second patient at the centre was also being treated for swine flu in a special high-dependency unit established to stop the disease spreading, he said.

Two other people with swine flu have died in Australia, although both had underlying health problems and the cause of death has not been confirmed.

Australia has 2873 swine flu cases, more than half of them in Victoria.

AFP

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