MORE people would inevitably die from swine flu, the Australian Medical Association president warned last night, after the first Australian death from the illness.

Dr Andrew Pesce said he was not surprised by the death on Friday of a chronically ill 26-year-old man, from the remote Aboriginal community Kiwirrkurra in Western Australia, near the Northern Territory border.

"It's sad and regrettable but there have been more than 2000 cases of swine flu diagnosed in Australia and if you have a big number of people infected, it is inevitable we will get more deaths," he told The Sunday Age.

But Health Minister Nicola Roxon appealed for calm yesterday, saying it was unclear whether swine flu was the direct cause of the man's death.

Dr Pesce said that as the virus moved through the community, there was a chance that it could mutate and become more virulent, causing more severe disease.

"There is no immunity to swine flu. It's still very, very contagious and if you come in contact with it there's a significant chance you'll be infected," Dr Pesce said.

"Luckily, if you're not in the high-risk groups you should just have a mild illness but we need to still try to minimise the spread through the community."

Dr Pesce said the message to the public was that those in the most at-risk groups — people with chronic underlying respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis, pregnant women, the obese and the elderly — should see their doctor immediately if they had any flu symptoms.

Australia's first swine flu victim, who had been suffering from several serious illnesses, died on Friday afternoon at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

He had been flown to Adelaide from his remote community on Monday for treatment for pneumonia and tested positive to swine flu on Thursday, although it is still unclear where and when he contracted the virus.

Authorities will fly to the remote area this week to deliver antiviral medication to the community.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett said residents of the community have been told not to leave the area for a week to prevent the virus spreading.

Dr Brad Murphy, who heads the national standing committee on Aboriginal health for the Royal Australian College of GP, said the death of an Aboriginal man to swine flu highlighted the gap in health standards between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

The total number of swine flu case in Australia stood at 2376 last night, with 1230 in Victoria, 409 in NSW, 249 (Qld), 139 (SA), 138 (WA), 93 (ACT), 62 (Tas), and 56 (NT). There are 14 people in hospital with swine flu, including 12 in Victoria (where four are in intensive care) and two in the Northern Territory.