London - Britain's first swine flu victim was a 38-year-old woman who gave birth to a baby almost three months prematurely a fortnight ago, reports said Monday.

The woman, whose death was confirmed late Sunday, had been in intensive care at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, near Glasgow in Scotland.

The authorities have said she suffered from "underlying health problems," suggesting that the infection with the H1N1 virus is possibly not the only cause of death.

Newspaper reports said the child was born at 29 weeks, but tests had shown that the baby did not carry the influenza virus.

The mother, who had been critically ill in intensive care, was one of 10 being swine flu patients treated in hospital in Scotland, where the disease first appeared in Britain.

Her death is the first of a swine flu victim outside the Americas, and brings to 498 the number of cases in Scotland. For Britain as a whole, the infection toll stands at 1,226.(dpa)