Swine flu case confirmed in Spain
The first case of swine flu has been confirmed in Europe.
A male patient in south-eastern Spain has tested positive for the virus and 17 people are under investigation, the Spanish health ministry has said.
European Union health ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the outbreak, which has killed more than 100 people in Mexico.
The EU's Health Commissioner, Androulla Vassiliou, has advised against non-essential travel to any affected areas.
Besides Mexico and Spain, there have also been confirmed cases in the US and Canada. Suspected cases are being investigated in the UK, Brazil, Israel, Australia and New Zealand.
"Personally, I'd try to avoid non-essential travel to the areas which are reported to be in the centre of the cluster," Ms Vassiliou said.
The precaution would "minimise the personal risk and to reduce the potential risk to spread the infection to other people", she added.
An EU spokesman later said it was not yet advising against travel to Spain because there had not been any cases of transmission there.
But Germany's largest tour operator, TUI, said it was suspending all trips to Mexico City as a precaution - though holidays to other parts of Mexico would continue as normal.
'Not serious'
At a news conference in Madrid, Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez confirmed a male patient at a hospital in Almansa in the south-eastern province of Albacete had tested positive for the virus.
The 23-year-old man had arrived home from Mexico with a fever last Wednesday, and was isolated in a hospital ward on Saturday night, she added.
Ms Jimenez said the patient was being treated in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) procedures, and that his condition was not serious.
"The situation is under control," she said.
At least 17 further suspected cases are under investigation in Spain, in locations ranging from Madrid to Mallorca, Barcelona to the Basque Country.
The patients concerned have all recently returned from Mexico. None of the cases is thought to be life threatening.
The health minister said it was now an "urgent priority" for different regions of the country to share information - stressing that Spain had sufficient supplies of anti-viral medicines.
Two patients in Scotland are under observation after returning from Mexico with flu-like symptoms. Scotland's Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said their condition gave no cause for concern.
Four people tested for the virus in France have been given the all-clear by doctors, French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot has said.
The WHO has said the swine flu virus could be capable of mutating into a more dangerous strain, but officials say they need more information on the virus to determine the threat it poses.
They are advising all countries to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, a characteristic of past pandemics.
The H1N1 virus is the same strain that causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans, but the newly detected version contains genetic material from versions of flu which usually affect pigs and birds.
There is currently no vaccine for the new strain, but severe cases can be treated with antiviral medication.
'Maximum co-operation'
Earlier, the European Commission convened an emergency meeting of the health ministers from all the EU's 27 member states on Thursday to discuss growing concern about the outbreak.
"The commission is following the situation concerning the swine influenza very closely, internally together with the member states, and internationally in co-operation with the World Health Organization," said Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
"We will continue to assess the information we are getting from the experts, evaluate the potential danger and decide together with member states on the measures to take."
Further details about Thursday's meeting have to be worked out by the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency.
The commission's director-general for health and consumer protection, Robert Madelin, said close co-ordination between EU members was the most effective way to tackle any pandemic.
"If we do not co-ordinate, individual regions and countries take measures which are inconsistent and create huge economic and personal costs," he told a news conference in Brussels.
"A combined approach is definitely the best response."
Mr Madelin said the EU was "putting in place plans agreed in the last five years, ensuring that the level of risk management is appropriate to the risk - using our 'war-games' experiences".
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