NSW swine flu toll rises to 41

The swine flu toll has surged past 40 in NSW with another five deaths of people with
the virus.
The state's chief health officer Kerry Chant on Thursday confirmed 41 people with
swine flu had died but said all of the latest victims had underlying health
conditions before contracting the influenza A(H1N1) virus.
Two men, aged 41 and 42, and three women, aged 56, 69 and 85, were the latest swine
flu victims.
Dr Chant said that the major risk factors for patients admitted to intensive care
with confirmed H1N1 influenza were predominantly chronic lung disease, diabetes,
morbid obesity, chronic heart failure and pregnancy.
She urged pregnant women, Aboriginal people and anyone with underlying medical
conditions or moderate to severe illness to immediately consult their doctor.
A 23-year-old Sydney woman, Katrina Borland, died on August 11 - five weeks after
giving birth to a daughter Ella Louise.
The Macarthur Chronicle revealed the woman from Ambarvale, in Sydney's southwest,
had trouble breathing four days after the birth.
She was initially admitted to Campbelltown Hospital's intensive care unit then moved
to Liverpool Hospital.
The Chronicle also reported that although Ms Borland was a type 1 diabetic, she had
a healthy pregnancy.
The Seven Network reported that she contracted swine flu while giving birth in
hospital but NSW Health officials won't comment on individual swine flu cases.
Her partner and Ella Louise's father, Steven Valle, said if anyone could survive
such a battle, it would have been Katrina.
"She had a lot of fight in her and she had something to fight for - a little girl
and me," Mr Valle told the Seven Network.
"But when the doctors said they had nothing else to do, it just felt like someone
had ripped my heart out of my chest."
The number of people with influenza-like symptoms presenting to emergency
departments has continued to decline and is now lower than the highest seasonal peak
of recent years.
"In the last seven days, there were 203 influenza-like illness presentations to
emergency departments monitored by NSW Health," Dr Chant said in a statement.
"This is a significant decline from the previous week's total of 338.
"Hospital admissions with pneumonia or influenza-like illness peaked in mid-July and
are now at the lower end of the seasonal range for this time of year."
There are 19 confirmed swine flu sufferers in intensive care in NSW.