The 31-year-old Spaniard who died of swine flu could have contracted the infection while in Malta, The Times has learnt.

Kristina Lopez, who was found dead in a Buġibba apartment on August 24, had been in Malta since the beginning of the month, indicating that she fell ill while on the island, Charmaine Gauci, director of the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Department, said.

A post mortem on Ms Lopez, who was in Malta to study English, established that she had died of bronchopneumonia.

Antibiotics were found in the apartment where Ms Lopez had been living, the director general of health, Ray Busuttil said.

The Spaniard's death was not immediately linked to the pandemic influenza H1N1, which has claimed over 3,400 lives worldwide. But further tests in the UK confirmed that the young woman was infected with swine flu, bringing the local death toll in Malta to three.

According to Christopher Barbara, the chairman of the Pathology Department, tests carried out locally showed that the Spaniard was suffering from influenza A but could not determine whether it was H1N1, probably because the viral load on the sample was too low because the swab had been taken from a dead person. The swab was sent to the UK for further testing.

Dr Barbara said this was not the first time a swab was sent for further testing, adding that this procedure was followed whenever local tests did not give a clear result, possibly because there was not enough virus on the swab.

Dr Gauci said a friend of Ms Lopez, who was suffering from influenza-type symptoms, was also tested for the virus but the examination proved negative.

Ms Lopez's death throws another light on swine flu and highlights the fact that it can also be fatal among young people. The other two local victims were both elderly and had underlying health conditions.

Dr Busuttil said only about 60 per cent of young people who succumbed to the disease worldwide had underlying health problems. "This is why this is not just an ordinary flu," he said, adding that both those with underlying medical conditions and those who were healthy should seek medical advice.

Asked when the vaccine against the virus causing the pandemic was expected to arrive in Malta, Dr Busuttil said the authorities had not yet been given a date, although there were indications that just one dose would be needed. The vaccine was expected to arrive in Malta sometime in the beginning of next year and a spokesman for the Parliamentary Secretariat for Community Care said the 500,000 doses could cost up to €4 million.

This will be over and above the €3.5 million package announced earlier this year to strengthen antiviral supplies and buy antibiotics, protective gear for hospital workers and a stockpile of alcohol-based hand rubs, which have also been almost exhausted. The government had invested a further €4.5 million in previous years to combat a potential pandemic.

Dr Busuttil said the strains isolated in different countries were all the same and there was no evidence of any changes in the virus. Although there were a few cases resistant to Tamiflu, Dr Busuttil said this was a sporadic occurrence and did not mean that the virus was genetically resistant to the popular antiviral.