Coroner: Oregon trucker dies in Ill. of swine flu

MARYVILLE (AP) - A coroner says a trucker from Oregon has died in southwestern Illinois of swine flu.

Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn says 45-year-old Derrick Keel of Beaverton, Ore., died Wednesday night at a Maryville hospital after driving himself there three days earlier complaining of fever, shortness of breath and a several-day cough.

Nonn says an autopsy showed that Keel had pneumonia in both lungs. Tests by the Illinois Department of Public Health lab confirmed the presence of the H1N1 virus.

Nonn says Keel worked for Landstar System Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., and had traveled through several states in the days before his hospitalization.

A message left Sunday with Landstar wasn’t immediately returned.

Since April, nearly 400 Illinois residents have been hospitalized with swine flu and, including Keel’s case, 18 have died.