H1N1 VIRUS: NAPLES INMATE ITALY'S EIGHTH VICTIM +RPT+

H1N1 VIRUS: NAPLES INMATE ITALY'S EIGHTH VICTIM +RPT+

(corrects ''eight'' in first graph, new third graph) (ANSA) - Naples, October 29 - The number of victims in Italy from the H1N1 flu virus rose to eight on Thursday with the death of a Naples prison inmate, health officials said.

Doctors said the patient, a 50-year-old diabetic, already suffered from a chronic lung and heart condition.

The man is Naples' fourth flu victim so far, after a 65-year-old pensioner who died in the same hospital just hours before and a 56-year-old doctor who died of the virus on Tuesday.

All three men suffered from serious pre-existing illnesses.

In early September, a 51-year-old man in Naples with diabetes and a severe heart condition became Italy's first flu victim.

Doctors in Naples said they had four other patients under observation for potentially serious cases of the new influenza.

Italian health officials this week said they expected the number of cases, and also deaths, to increase as temperatures drop.

On Tuesday, Junior Health Minister Ferruccio Fazio announced that hospitals would begin vaccinating people with chronic illnesses at high risk of the virus before the end of the month.