NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York woman has been added to the number of victims killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, in the first confirmed death from dust generated by the collapse of the twin towers.

Smoke and debris fill the air after one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City collapsed September 11, 2001. A New York woman has been added to the number of victims killed in the attack on the World Trade Center, in the first confirmed death from dust generated by the collapse of the twin towers. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

New York City’s medical examiner determined this week that Felicia Dunn-Jones’ exposure to dust on September 11, 2001, “contributed to her death” five months later.

The attorney, 42, worked near the World Trade Center and ran through the thick clouds of dust as she fled from the collapsing towers. She developed a cough and breathing problems four months later, and died on February 10, 2002.

The addition of Dunn-Jones brings the official total number of September 11 victims in New York to 2,750, Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch said in a statement.

The medical examiner’s office “has thus concluded that Mrs. Dunn-Jones’ exposure to World Trade Center dust on 9/11/01 contributed to her death and it has been ruled a homicide,” the statement said.

By linking the toxic dust to Dunn-Jones’ death, Hirsch could open the door to attributing more deaths in New York to the attacks.

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat who called on the medical examiner to review the case, believes there are at least eight other people who died from the asbestos-laden dust, her spokesman Joe Soldevere said.

Hirsch’s spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said she did not have any information on other cases that might be reviewed.

Residents and workers near the Trade Center were reassured by the Environmental Protection Agency in the days following the September 11 attacks that the air was safe, but dust samples taken by the EPA at the time were found to contain dangerous levels of asbestos.

About 70 percent of the thousands of rescue workers who sorted through the debris suffered respiratory problems, according to a study by Mount Sinai Medical Center released last year.

The September 11 death toll, not including the hijackers, also includes 184 killed when a plane flew into the Pentagon and 40 killed in a plane that crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania.