The hospital’s doctors treated her with antiviral drug Tamiflu and sent her to Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital the following day.

As she had already developed critical pneumonia and respiratory failure, doctors from Cho Ray Hospital performed emergency surgery to take out her 39-week-old baby, who is now in good health, the ministry said.

The mother, whose name has not been released, was given Tamiflu after the surgery, but succumbed on Tuesday night. She is the third pregnant woman to die of swine flu in Vietnam so far.

The HCMC Pasteur Institute later confirmed she had tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) virus, listing her as the third pregnant woman to die after swine flu so far in Vietnam.

At a meeting on Wednesday in Hanoi, the Ministry of Health reported another 205 cases of H1N1 infection nationwide, increasing the country’s tally to 9,058 since the virus was first detected in May.

The ratio of H1N1 deaths now stands at 1.7 for very 1,000 patients who’ve tested positive, compared to the world’s ration of 12 per thousand, the ministry said.

To ease the overload of H1N1 patients at major city hospitals, the ministry will soon issue instructions on home treatment for the patients, Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the ministry’s Preventive Health and Environment Department, said at the meeting.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre