Melbourne: A 71-year-old woman became the fourth swine flu-related death in Australia in a week, an official said on Friday.
Her death was the fifth in the Asia-Pacific region, with the Philippines reporting on Monday that a virus-infected patient had died.
The Australian woman is also the third to die with the virus in Victoria, the state where 1,509 of Australia's 3,280 swine flu cases had been confirmed by Friday, state acting chief health officer Rosemary Lester said.
Relatives of the woman, who died on Thursday, asked that no details of her medical history be revealed, Lester said.
The first three Australians who died suffered from other serious ailments, and authorities have not determined that swine flu was the direct cause of death.
The first was a 26-year-old aboriginal man with chronic heart, lung and kidney problems who died in a South Australia state hospital on Friday last week.
A 35-year-old man with severe ailments and a 50-year-old with cancer died in the Victoria state capital, Melbourne.
Lester said swine flu is generally mild, but can affect those with pre-existing medical conditions.
"We know that for people with chronic medical conditions, influenza can be severe," she said in a statement.