MANILA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- A 60-year-old American woman died of cardiac arrest in hospital in the eastern Philippines after testing positive for the A/H1N1 flu, media reports said on Thursday.

    The patient died Tuesday night in Tacloban City, Leyte province, the Philippine Star daily reported.

    Dr. Edgardo Gonzaga, a regional director of the Philippine Department of Health, said that Linda Seavey, a teacher at an international school in Leyte, underwent gallbladder surgery before she caught flu.

    "But of course we cannot discount possibilities that her death has complication with H1N1 virus," the official was quoted.

    It was the fifth death related to the Influenza A/H1N1 virus.

    Globally, the World Health Organization has placed the worldwide A/H1N1 death toll at over 700.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu