Italy's Death Toll of A/H1N1 Flu Rises to 18

ROME -- Health authorities reported that Italy's death toll of A/H1N1 flu increased to 18 on Tuesday.

The latest victim was identified as Fernando Lettieri, a 37-year-old musician who had been undergoing dialysis following a kidney transplant. He died of pneumonia complicated by the A/H1N1 virus infection.

Lettieri became the ninth victim to die of the A/H1N1 flu related causes in the Campania region after two women died in Naples on Monday.

Health authorities are looking into the death of a healthy 12-year-old girl from Pompei, a suburb of Naples. The girl succumbed to the new virus over the weekend roughly two days after presenting with flu-like symptoms.

The dreaded flu virus claimed its youngest victim in the country on Monday, an 11-year-old girl who was receiving treatment for the flu at a hospital in Austria.

Junior Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio stated that Italy is scheduled to distribute a total of six million doses of the flu vaccine by the end of November, as various hospitals have already started inoculating pregnant women and patients with chronic diseases.