Nearly half of the people who have died of swine flu in San Diego County were Latinos, county health officials said.
But it's not their ethnicity that is putting them at risk of contracting and dying from the swine flu, health officials say.
Other health and social factors may be to blame.
Although Latinos make up only a quarter of the county's 3 million residents, they account for 15 of the 33 deaths that were reported in the county as of Friday, according to the county's Health and Human Services Agency.
The disproportionate number of Latinos and other minorities with swine flu, also known as the H1N1 influenza, has been reported in other parts of the country, such as Texas and Boston, where health officials have released preliminary reports on the spread of the virus.
Health officials said it is a troubling revelation, but one that is hardly surprising because of the Latino community's high poverty rate, lack of access to health care and high incidence of certain chronic diseases, including diabetes. READ FULL STORY
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