ROME, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- A woman who died over the weekend was "probably" Italy's first victim of the A/H1H1 flu, Italian Health Undersecretary Ferruccio Fazio said Monday.

    The woman, 46, had been in apparent good health when she was admitted to hospital on Aug. 30 and unlike the previous victim in Naples had not had major prior health problems, he said.

    "It is possible, indeed probable, that she was the first victim of the new flu (in Italy)," Fazio told reporters.

    The woman, Giovanna R., a lawyer and mother of three children, was not a smoker and did not have any pre-existing lung condition, her doctor sister noted after she died, according to Italy's ANSA news agency.

    The previous victim, a 51-year-old Naples man who died early this month, had a range of pre-existing conditions including diabetes and a severe heart condition.

    Italy has had some 2,400 cases of the new flu, only five of them continue to be serious, local media reported. These patients, in Monza, Mantua, Florence, Rome and Cesena, have been ill for some time and are said to be stable.

    Fazio said health ministry inspectors would be in Messina to help a police inquiry into the woman's death. He also said Italy could expect at most 200 such cases.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu