Topeka ? Health officials on Thursday reported Kansas’ first death of a person with swine flu, saying the Wichita-area resident already suffered from a chronic medical condition made worse by the virus.

Officials didn’t identify the victim and provided few details, to protect the person’s privacy. They said only that the victim was from Sedgwick County, was middle-aged and died earlier this week.

Health officials also were careful to say that the victim didn’t die from swine flu, only that it may have been a contributing factor in the death. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the victim’s case of swine flu was confirmed July 30.

“The individual had a chronic condition,” said Jennifer McCausland, spokeswoman for the Sedgwick County Health Department. “It made them weaker, but H1N1 was not the primary cause of death.”

Swine flu cases have been reported in 41 of the state’s 105 counties since the first two were in Dickinson County in April. The disease can be dangerous for people who have heart and respiratory problems and other chronic conditions, KDHE spokeswoman Maggie Thompson said.

“What we’re seeing is relatively mild in most people, but it can be very severe in others,” Thompson said.

KDHE officials also said there’s no indication the virus is becoming more virulent.

The state is moving away from keeping an exact count of individual swine flu cases, and KDHE’s last reported figure of 247 confirmed cases is likely to be low.

KDHE officials reported Thursday that 23 people with confirmed cases had been hospitalized in the state.

However, in Johnson County alone, the Health Department reported 33 hospitalizations. Nancy Tausz, director of disease containment, said not all reports of H1N1 cases go to KDHE. She said Johnson County itself has had between 250 and 300 total cases.

Tausz also said it’s not surprising the state has seen the death of someone who contracted the new flu virus while suffering from a chronic medical condition.

“Any underlying conditions can have all kinds of complications,” she said. “With regular flu, pneumonia is a huge complication.”