Posted at: 10/23/2009 9:26 AM
Updated at: 10/23/2009 10:53 AM

Baby Who Died of Swine Flu had Heart Ailment

ALBERT LEA, Minn. (AP) - The family of the Freeborn County infant who died of swine flu says the 5-week-old also had critical heart and lung ailments.

Addie Rust is the grandmother of William Anton Cech. She tells the Albert Lea Tribune the boy had a condition that left half his heart underdeveloped. Fluid also accumulated in his lungs that tested positive for swine flu.

Family members had to wear masks and gloves around him, until his final day. On Oct. 15, they held him without gloves as he passed away peacefully.

Ten people have died of swine flu-related illness in Minnesota. The state health department says the victims include another child from Steele County and a Martin County woman in her early 60s, and both also had underlying health conditions.

Swine Flu Pediatric Deaths in US Rise to 95

The government's latest figures show swine flu is widespread across the country and increasing in almost every state. It's now caused at least 95 children's deaths since April.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the new tally Friday morning.

Forty-six states now have widespread flu activity. The only states without widespread flu are Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey and South Carolina.

There are at least two different types of flu causing illnesses now. Testing from about 5,000 patients suggests that nearly all of the flu cases are swine flu.