ULAN BATOR, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Specimens from a 50-year-old man who died in the southern Mongolian province of Umnugovi in mid-January have tested positive for flu virus H1N1, state-owned news agency Montsame reported Tuesday.

The test was conducted by the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).

The death became the second fatality of the H1N1 flu virus, also known as swine flu, in the country this year after the capital city of Ulan Bator reported one fatality.

According to the Mongolian NCCD and State First Central Hospital, a total of 17 cases of H1N1 flu virus infection in the country, including 11 cases in Umnugovi, have been detected so far this year.

Swine flu, also known as influenza A/H1N1-2009, is a human respiratory disease. People get the disease from other people, instead of pigs.

It has an incubation period of one to four days and has high virulence if not diagnosed and treated in time.