Chinese swine flu patient electrocuted in shower (Roundup)

Jul 3, 2009, 8:59 GMT

   Beijing - An electric shock killed a swine flu patient while she was taking a shower at a hospital in eastern China's Hangzhou city, state media reported on Friday.

   An autopsy on Lou Yihong, 34, who was under treatment for H1N1 influenza at the No 1 People's Hospital in Hangzhou's Xiaoshan district, found that she died accidentally from electrocution early Wednesday.

   'The patient died of electrocution caused by a leakage of electricity from electrical circuits in her ward lavatory when she was taking a shower,' the official Xinhua news agency quoted police and health officials as saying in a joint statement.

   More than 50 of Lou's relatives protested at the hospital on Wednesday and Thursday, causing minor damage to the hospital entrance and an ambulance, the agency said.

   Some of her relatives had discussed compensation for Lou's death with hospital staff, it said.

   Lou had shown signs of recovery since she was admitted on June 23 and her temperature was normal for the week before she died, earlier reports said.

   China has confirmed 915 H1N1 infections, with 296 under current hospital treatment and six people quarantined at home, the health ministry said. Another 612 people had recovered fully from the virus, it said.

   China has so far reported no confirmed deaths from H1N1 but health ministry official Liang Wannian earlier this week said China's rising number of cases made it 'very likely' that it would report its first death from the virus in the near future.