First swine flu death in Canada, cases double in United States

The Americas were thrust back into the centre of fears over swine flu yesterday as Canada announced its first death, the number of US infections almost doubled, and more cases were found in Latin America.

US President Barack Obama warned the United States was not out of the woods yet, as across the nation's northern border a woman in western Alberta province became the first person in Canada to succumb to the disease.

"We have our first fatality in Alberta that is associated with the H1N1 flu," said Andre Corriveau, the province's chief medical officer.

To the south, Panama became the latest Central American nation to confirm a case of the A(H1N1) virus while Guatemala said it had two people who had caught the disease. Panamanian Health Minister Rosario Turner, urging the public to remain calm, said the unidentified youth, who arrived in the country on a flight from the United States, was in quarantine.

"He is receiving treatment and his condition is stable and does not require hospitalisation," she said.

Brazil and Argentina had on Thursday each reported their first cases of the flu - a new multi-strain believed to be a mix of bird flu and human flu which came together in pigs - as they head into their winter flu season.

American health authorities said the number of confirmed cases was now 1,639 in 43 states. The figure had been put at 896 only on Thursday. But they cautioned this did not mean the disease was becoming more virulent, just that better testing was in place.

"We are seeing that the virus may not have been as virulent as we at first feared," Mr Obama said at a Spanish-language town hall meeting at the White House.

"But we are not out of the woods yet. We still have to take precautions."

The US President warned that the autumn and winter flu season later in the year could see cases spike again.

Health authorities "believe we are going to have to keep on taking precautions and we may have to prepare for an even worse flu season sometime in the fall," he said.