According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cases of the new H1N1 swine flu virus are continuing to rise, with more countries infected and 5 more deaths in Mexico, where the vast majority of fatal cases have occurred so far.

As of early Sunday morning 06:00 GMT, the WHO bulletin showed that 46 countries have officially reported 12,515 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 91 deaths. This is an overall rise of 493 cases and 5 deaths from the previous report two days earlier.

The vast majority of cases reported are in the United States (over 6,500) and Mexico (over 4,100), with Canada (805) and Japan (345) reporting numbers an order of magnitute lower.

There appears to have been a sharp rise in reported cases in Chile (rising from 24 to 44 in two days) and Peru (from 5 to 25 in two days), and Kuweit appears on the chart for the first time, after 18 US troops were found to be infected with the virus there.

According to AFP news, the Kuweiti authorities detected swine flu among US soldiers who passed through the Gulf emirate in transit. The authorities there said there were no reports of Kuweitis having the virus. The soldiers were isolated at the the US base in Arifjan, 70 kilometres (42 miles) south of the capital.

A health official told the press that the soldiers were given medication and most had now already left the country, while others were in hospital. There was no information on the condition of the troops still in hospital.

The US embassy in Kuwait said it knew of the cases and that the soldiers had been isolated and not been in contact with the Kuwaiti public.

Earlier today, the Australian government instructed over 2,000 passengers from the visiting cruise ship Pacific Dawn to isolate themselves after two child passengers tested positive to infection from the new H1N1 swine flu virus. This would bring Australia’s total number of cases to 18.

On Monday, the Mexican authorities reported three more deaths from the new H1N1 swine flu virus, bringing its death toll to 83, while the US and Canada each reported another death brinding their death toll to 12 and 2 respectively, according to several media reports.

Also on Monday, Puerto Rico reported its first confirmed case of new H1N1 swine flu in a 39-year old man who had just been cruising in the Caribbean.

Luis Fortuno, Governor of the US Caribbean territory told the press that “this isolated case should not be cause for panic,” reported Reuters.

On Sunday, the United Arab Emirates announced its first case of lab confirmed H1N1 in the country. The infected person is a man recently arrived from Canada.

UAE Minister of Health Haneef Hassan said that the man was “recovering now at a government hospital after he has received a course of treatment” and that no other passenger had reported symptoms of swine flu, said a WAM local news agency report.

Hassan said the UAE authorities were following WHO recommended measures for dealing with H1N1 and:

“We are fully cooperating and regularly communicating with regional and international organizations to exchange the latest information of H1N1 virus.”

Last week, health ministers from nearly 200 countries met in Geneva for the 62nd World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, where Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization said in her closing remarks:

“As some delegates noted, the strength of a country’s health system will make the biggest difference in sickness and survival during an influenza pandemic.”

Chan explained that although much of the meeting, as planned, focused on the health-related Millennium Development Goals, primary health care, and the findings of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and there emerged a “profound understanding” of these “big three” instruments for greater equity, she told delegates:

“You also argued that the three, working together and supported by appropriate policies, will give countries and communities the resilience needed to cope with the “big three” global crises: the financial crisis, the prospect of an influenza pandemic, and climate change.”

Sources: Reuters, WAM, WHO, AFP news.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD