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The woman in Spain, who suffered from asthma, died at dawn of a respiratory illness provoked by the infection, said a health ministry statement.
Seven-months pregnant when she arrived at the hospital, she had been receiving treatment for several days.
When her condition deteriorated Monday, doctors carried out a Caesarean delivery of the baby, who was fragile but in good health and unaffected by the virus, said the ministry statement.
Three other patients were be in a serious condition in Spanish hospitals, said health officials.
Her death was the fourth from swine flu in Europe.
Late Monday, Britain reported its third swine flu death -- a schoolgirl who officials said had had underlying health problems.
In the Uruguayan capital Montevideo health ministry officials reported the country's first victim, a 60-year-old woman.
"Late today a woman died in Montevideo with multiple organ failure and tests confirmed the presence of the A(H1N1) virus," the ministry said in a statement.
Uruguay has 195 confirmed cases of swine flu, including 12 requiring hospitalization, according to the ministry.
Health authorities in Canada meanwhile expressed alarm that young people were being hit hardest by the infection.
Preliminary data showed that the virus had mostly infected people under the age of 20 in Canada, and relatively few people over 65.
During seasonal influenza outbreaks, it is usually the elderly who account for 25 percent of infections, and most deaths.
"So this is quite different," Chief Public Health Officer David Butler-Jones said.
"Although we do expect some cases to be severe in any influenza outbreak, especially when there is underlying factors such as chronic lung disease or diabetes, there are some cases (now) where the individual was previously healthy before catching this virus and rapidly has progressed to severe illness and required a ventilator," he said.
Figures released by the World Health Organisation on Monday meanwhile had report the death toll from the pandemic at 311 and total infections at 70,893 -- up more than 10,000 on the figures release the previous Friday.
US researchers said in a new study published Tuesday that the virus responsible for the Spanish flu in 1918 created a viral dynasty that persists today.
The research, published Tuesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, said not only did the Spanish flu's H1N1 virus cause tens of millions of deaths in 1918, it was also transmitted from humans to pigs during the pandemic and continues to evolve today.
"The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic was a defining event in the history of public health," said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a co-author of the study.
Jeffrey Taubenberger, the senior investigator at NIAID's Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, said all human-adapted influenza A viruses were descendents, direct or indirect, of that founding virus.
"Thus we can be said to be living in a pandemic era that began in 1918," he added.
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Seven-months pregnant when she arrived at the hospital, she had been receiving treatment for several days.
When her condition deteriorated Monday, doctors carried out a Caesarean delivery of the baby, who was fragile but in good health and unaffected by the virus, said the ministry statement.
Three other patients were be in a serious condition in Spanish hospitals, said health officials.
Her death was the fourth from swine flu in Europe.
Late Monday, Britain reported its third swine flu death -- a schoolgirl who officials said had had underlying health problems.
In the Uruguayan capital Montevideo health ministry officials reported the country's first victim, a 60-year-old woman.
"Late today a woman died in Montevideo with multiple organ failure and tests confirmed the presence of the A(H1N1) virus," the ministry said in a statement.
Uruguay has 195 confirmed cases of swine flu, including 12 requiring hospitalization, according to the ministry.
Health authorities in Canada meanwhile expressed alarm that young people were being hit hardest by the infection.
Preliminary data showed that the virus had mostly infected people under the age of 20 in Canada, and relatively few people over 65.
During seasonal influenza outbreaks, it is usually the elderly who account for 25 percent of infections, and most deaths.
"So this is quite different," Chief Public Health Officer David Butler-Jones said.
"Although we do expect some cases to be severe in any influenza outbreak, especially when there is underlying factors such as chronic lung disease or diabetes, there are some cases (now) where the individual was previously healthy before catching this virus and rapidly has progressed to severe illness and required a ventilator," he said.
Figures released by the World Health Organisation on Monday meanwhile had report the death toll from the pandemic at 311 and total infections at 70,893 -- up more than 10,000 on the figures release the previous Friday.
US researchers said in a new study published Tuesday that the virus responsible for the Spanish flu in 1918 created a viral dynasty that persists today.
The research, published Tuesday by the New England Journal of Medicine, said not only did the Spanish flu's H1N1 virus cause tens of millions of deaths in 1918, it was also transmitted from humans to pigs during the pandemic and continues to evolve today.
"The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic was a defining event in the history of public health," said Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a co-author of the study.
Jeffrey Taubenberger, the senior investigator at NIAID's Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, said all human-adapted influenza A viruses were descendents, direct or indirect, of that founding virus.
"Thus we can be said to be living in a pandemic era that began in 1918," he added.
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