Oregon Public Broadcasting

Health officials in eastern Washington and northern Idaho announced Thursday that five people who had or likely had the flu have died. Doug Nadvornick reports.

Spokane Regional Health officer Dr. Joel McCullough reports four people with the flu died in Spokane County in the last week.

Dr. Joel McCullough: “We know that they tested positive for influenza A. In terms of whether the influenza contributed to their death, that's not known at this point.”

McCullough says that means eight people with the flu have died in the last month in Spokane County. Five of those lived in the county.

Across the border, health officials say a Post Falls, Idaho man who had flu symptoms also died this week.

Panhandle Health District spokeswoman Cynthia Taggart says toxicology tests will determine if he had H1N1. If confirmed, he would be the fifth Idaho swine flu victim.