WORLD> America
Costa Rica sees 1st H1N1 flu death
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-10 10:39

Public broadcaster NHK TV urged people who were aboard the same Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to call a special telephone number for consultations. So far, 49 people had been traced and would be monitored for 10 days, officials said.

Full coverage:
Costa Rica sees 1st H1N1 flu death
 AH1N1Influenza Outbreak
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Mexico, which raised its count of confirmed cases to 1,626 based on tests of earlier patients, continued to gradually lift a nationwide shutdown of schools, businesses, churches and soccer stadiums.

But an upswing in suspected -- though not confirmed -- cases in parts of Mexico prompted authorities in at least six of the country's 31 states to delay plans to let primary school students return to class on Monday after a two-week break.

"It has been very stable ... except for those states," Health Department spokesman Carlos Olmos said, referring to states in central and southern Mexico.

Mexican health authorities released a breakdown of the first 45 of the country's 48 flu deaths that showed that 84 percent of the victims were between the ages of 20 and 54. Only 2.2 percent were immune-depressed, and none had a previous history of respiratory disease.

Australia reported its first case Saturday in a woman it said was no longer infectious. She first noticed her symptoms while traveling in the US, federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon told reporters.

New Zealand, the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to confirm cases, reported two more Saturday for a total of seven. The two high school students returned last month from a school trip to Mexico. Six of the country's cases were in students and a teacher on that trip; the seventh traveled on the same plane as the group.

Norway's National Health Directorate reported that country's first two confirmed cases: a man and a woman, both aged 20, who had been studying in Mexico.

In Canada, officials said almost 500 hogs quarantined on an Alberta farm after being diagnosed with swine flu had been killed because animals were becoming overcrowded since the facility was barred from shipping any to market.

"They were not culled for being sick. They were culled because of animal welfare concerns," Dr. Gerald Hauer, the province's chief veterinarian, told reporters. He said about 1,700 pigs remained on the farm.

Authorities have said the pigs apparently became infected from a farm worker who had been in Mexico. Experts say people cannot catch flu from eating pork, but in rare cases people have been infected by contact with a live pig.

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