Eighteen U.S. soldiers have been confirmed as the first cases in Kuwait with H1N1 flu, the undersecretary of the ministry of health said on Sunday.

“They are 18 U.S. soldiers that were confirmed with the virus upon their arrival from their country to the military base (in Kuwait),” Ibrahim al-Abdulhadi told Reuters.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday the U.S. will spend $1 billion to start the process of making an H1N1 influenza vaccine.

The money, which comes from funds already set aside for pandemic influenza, will fund new and existing contracts with influenza vaccine makers such as Sanofi Aventis SA, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.

·The number of deaths caused by A/H1N1 virus has risen to 91, health officials said.
·More than 11,168 people in 44 countries and regions have reportedly contracted the virus.

7 May 2009, 24 countries have officially reported 2371 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.

Mexico has reported 1112 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 42 deaths. The United States has reported 896 laboratory confirmed human cases, including two deaths.

As of 7 May 2009, 18:00 GMT

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths – Austria (1), Canada (201), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Colombia (1), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (1), El Salvador (2), France (5), Germany (10), Guatemala (1), Ireland (1), Israel (6), Italy (5), Netherlands (2), New Zealand (5), Poland (1), Portugal (1), Republic of Korea (3), Spain (81), Sweden (1), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (32).

The fatality would mark the 3rd in North America outside the Mexican hot zone.

Reports emerged Thursday night that an elderly woman who had swine flu has died in northern Alberta.

It’s not clear whether she had any other underlying conditions.

CBC News put the question to Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert at 2:30 p.m. MT Thursday, and he stated then that he had no information about the case.

There are 214 confirmed cases of swine flu in Canada, including 33 in Alberta, the Public Health Agency of Canada says. Cases have been detected in every region except Newfoundland and Labrador and the Northern territories, with most cases found in B.C., Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta.

Almost all Canadian cases have been mild.

Worldwide, there are now 2,371 confirmed cases of swine flu in 24 countries, according to the World Health Organization. Forty-four people have died of the infection — 42 in Mexico and two in the United States.

On Thursday, Saskatchewan announced its first two cases of swine flu.

H1N1 Swine Flu Virus Cases Jump Quickly

The number of confirmed swine flu cases worldwide has increased to 1,490 with 30 deaths, most of them in Mexico, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. It marks an increase of 405 cases and four deaths since Monday.

These large, fast increases in H1N1 Virus cases and Swine Flu death counts are to be expected as the secondary and third waves of the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus begin their sweep across the world.