TOKYO, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- A female cancer patient in her 60s in Kagoshima Prefecture and a 38-year-old woman in Hyogo Prefecture with no apparent underlying illness died early Saturday, becoming the sixth and seventh deaths in Japan linked to the new A/H1N1 influenza virus, Kyodo News reported.

    The cause of death of the younger woman is not known, but the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said that her death does not constitute a case in which a fully healthy person died due to the infection, apparently in an attempt to brush aside public concern about the ongoing epidemic.

    The woman with a history of epilepsy who attended a facility for disabled people in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture, died at a hospital in Himeji in the prefecture, Himeji city officials said.

    The other woman from Makurazaki, Kagoshima, was suffering from cancer in her digestive system and the tumor had spread to her lungs after she underwent surgery, according to the Kyodo report.

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