McALLEN, Texas — A Mexico City toddler who became the first swine-flu death on U.S. soil spent a day with his family shopping at a huge Houston indoor mall the day before he began to show symptoms.

Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos says the Brownsville family with whom the toddler was staying said they spent three nights in Houston just before he fell ill.

Hospital and health officials said yesterday that the 23-month old Mexico City boy arrived in Brownsville on April 4 and was hospitalized four days later. They said he had no outside contact once he was hospitalized. The family has shown no symptoms.