• Latest person to die was otherwise healthy – NHS
• Experts say virus has not necessarily mutated

The first death from swine flu of an otherwise healthy individual was announced last night by NHS authorities in Essex.

At the wishes of the family, no details were given of the patient who died at Basildon and Thurrock University hospital. But the case will cause widespread concern. Until now, every adult and child who has died has had serious underlying health problems that made them particularly vulnerable to infections.

But the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, has warned that a few apparently healthy people have succumbed to swine flu and become seriously ill abroad. In one case last month, a healthy 15-year-old teenager called Matthew Davis from Buffalo in New York state, fell ill with swine flu and died, apparently because of co-infection with the superbug MRSA, which he may have contracted in the community rather than in hospital.

Speaking last night, Donaldson pointed to the sometimes apparently random behaviour of the infection: “This death underlines that, although the virus is proving generally mild in most people, it is more severe in some cases. As with all flu-like viruses, some people are at higher risk than others. Unfortunately, people who are otherwise healthy could also become seriously ill or, sadly, die.”

But the director of public health for NHS south-east Essex, Dr Andrea Atherton, said she wanted to reassure people that the risk of transmission still remains small.

“It is important to stress that the symptoms of swine flu are, relatively speaking, mild. Unless you have flu-like symptoms and are being tested for swine flu, there is absolutely no need to stop your normal everyday activities,” she said.

Another expert, Prof Robert Dingwall, director of the Institute for Science and Society at the University of Nottingham, also struck a reassuring note. “This is not at all unexpected – there have been a few deaths elsewhere in the world among people with no obvious underlying condition.

“However, it does not really affect the growing body of evidence that the first pandemic of the 21st century is a relatively mild one and that death rates are likely to be broadly comparable with the annual toll from seasonal flu. There certainly will be more deaths like this one – but most deaths will still occur among people who have some serious underlying condition, and are already likely to be under active medical management,” he said.

John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary’s College of Medicine in London and scientific director of Retroscreen Virology Ltd, said the death was to be expected and did not give any extra cause for concern: “We’ve all been gritting our teeth, waiting for this to happen, and now it has. This doesn’t necessarily mean the virus has mutated. Whether more patients with no underlying health problems die … depends on what the virus does next.”