Mexico raises swine-flu deaths to 19

Mexican heath officials have raised the number of confirmed swine-flu deaths in the country to 19 after examining 1,303 cases, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova has said.

Cordova said 14 women and five men had died from the H1N1 flu strain, with most of the victims aged between 20 and 40 years.

The announcement on Saturday followed earlier warnings that Mexico's death toll could rise as more tests are carried out on the 159 people who have died recently in Mexico of various forms of the flu.

The only other country to report an H1N1 death is the US with one out of 141 infections.

The other governments reporting infections, according to the World Health Organisation, are Canada with 34, Spain with 13, Britain with eight, New Zealand and Germany with four each, Israel with two, and Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland, Hong Kong and South Korea with one each.

The flu outbreak is caused by a new strain that has genetic elements that come from three species - pigs, birds and humans.

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