Meanwhile, Arizona's Maricopa County -- home to Phoenix -- reported that a woman in her late 40s died from complications of the H1N1 swine flu. She is the nation's fourth H1N1 swine flu fatality. The woman had an underlying lung disease, according to the Maricopa County public health department.
Despite the death, the CDC's marker for flu severity -- deaths from pneumonia or flu -- did not increase beyond normal levels for this time of year. This so-called "epidemic threshold" is 7.4% of all deaths; for the week ending May 9, flu/pneumonia deaths were 7.2% of all deaths.
One of the most alarming signs of a flu pandemic is a lot of severe illness in people who don't usually suffer severe flu cases -- older children and young adults.
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