NEW YORK, NY June 04, 2009 —Two more city residents who had the swine flu have died, bringing the total to seven. And health officials are providing a first glimpse of the “underlying conditions” that can turn swine flu from a mild illness into a severe or fatal one. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: Officials said six of seven people who died with H1N1 flu have those “underlying conditions,” with one case still under investigation. They're not giving specifics on those cases, but they did say a little more about the 300 or so people hospitalized with the flu.

Of those, about 40 percent have been asthmatic; 18 percent infants and toddlers; and 12 or 13 percent have heart disease, compromised immune systems or are pregnant.

Emergency Room visits are down from the peak a couple weeks ago but are still high. Only a very small number of them end up admitted to the hospital.

For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.