The Associated Press
Swine flu continued to spread across the globe over the weekend, as three countries -- Australia, Japan and Norway -- reported their first confirmed cases. Costa Rica reported the death of a 53-year-old patient, the first in Central America from the new flu strain.
Japanese authorities scrambled Saturday to track travelers who arrived on the same flight as three people diagnosed with the country's first confirmed cases of swine flu.
Authorities in Tokyo quarantined a high school teacher and two of his teenage students who tested positive for the flu at the airport after returning on a flight that originated in the USA. The three had been on a school trip to Canada. from a school trip to Canada.
A lab at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases later confirmed they had the virus that has killed at least 47 people and sickened more than 3,100 in 30 countries, most in the U.S. and Mexico.
Costa Rican authorities said the man who died of the flu in that country had complicating health conditions: diabeties and chronic lung disease.
In Norway, National Health Directorate spokeswoman Anne Kirkhusmo said two students, a man and woman both aged 20, have been diagonosed with swine flu after returning from a trip to Mexico.
Japan's health ministry confirmed that seven people aboard the same flight as the flu-stricken teacher and students were undergoing tests at a hospital after after they complained of feeling ill.
Since the outbreak began last month, several countries, including Japan, have screened air travelers for flu symptoms. But news reports said as many as 11 people on the Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit that landed in Tokyo on Friday avoided those screenings.
Taiwan's Centers for Disease for Control Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi said 16 passengers who were on that flight — including two Americans and 14 Taiwanese — have arrived on the island. Shih said authorities were looking for them.
Japanese Health and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe acknowledged it would be difficult to trace all those who came into contact with the three infected Japanese, who had visited Canada's Ontario province on a home-stay program with about 30 other students. The three were isolated and recovering at a hospital near Narita International Airport.
"There are limitations to what we can do, but we will continue to monitor the situation and strengthen or relax such measures as needed," he told reporters.
Public broadcaster NHK TV urged people who were aboard the flight to call a special telephone number for consultations. So far, 49 have been traced and will be monitored for 10 days, officials said.
Asia has been largely spared from the virus that continues to claim lives in worst-hit Mexico, which announced its 45th death Friday even as it emerged from a national shutdown that closed schools and businesses and shuttered churches and soccer stadiums.
But a handful of cases have cropped up in the region, including in South Korea and Hong Kong. The Chinese territory quarantined more than 200 people in a hotel after confirming its first case in a guest a week ago. They were released on Friday, and many were unable to contain their delight as they poured from the building for the first time in seven days. One man hugged a police officer and broke into song.
Australia reported its first case on Saturday in a woman it said was no longer infectious. She first noticed her symptoms while traveling in the U.S., federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon told reporters.
New Zealand— the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to confirm cases — reported two more on 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.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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