10:53pm UK, Friday May 01, 2009

Two people in France have become infected with the H1N1 swine flu – the country’s first confirmed cases of the virus.

A Parisian hospital where a girl was being treated for probable swine flu symptoms

“There are now two confirmed cases,” health minister Roselyne Bachelot revealed, adding there was a third “very suspect case which is very likely to be positive”.

She said all three had been in Mexico, where up to 176 people have been killed by the new virus.

Ms Bachelot said the two with confirmed infections, a 49-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, were “doing well” in Parisian hospitals.

Worldwide, 13 countries have confirmed cases. Almost all infections outside Mexico have been mild, and only a handful of patients have required hospital treatment.

In Mexico itself, many offices and businesses were closed for a five-day break to help slow the spread of the disease.

Before France, the latest countries to report new infections were Denmark and Hong Kong – where authorities sealed off a hotel after a 25-year-old Mexican visited.

He became the first verified case in Asia.

America, the country with the largest number of confirmed cases outside Mexico, reported 141 cases across 19 states.

Only one person has died outside Mexico – a toddler from Mexico who travelled to the US.

A World Health Organisation vaccine expert said there was no doubt that it would be possible to make a successful vaccine against the virus in a reasonably short period.

Experts have been struggling to explain why so many deaths have occurred in Mexico and nowhere else.

Even normal flu can be deadly, with seasonal influenza killing an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people globally every year.