Brazil reports first swine flu death

Brazil has reported its first swine flu fatality, saying the woman died after returning to South America’s largest nation from a trip to neighboring Argentina.

Brazil’s health ministry said in a statement that the victim, who died on Sunday, was “an adult woman from the state of Rio Grande do Sul who had spent one week in Argentina,” but it did not release the woman’s identity.

The ministry said it was also studying another suspected swine flu death in the same state, adding that it confirmed 36 new cases of the A(H1N1) virus, bringing Brazil’s total to 627.