MADRID - EUROPE recorded its first case of swine flu on Monday when the Spanish government confirmed that a man who recently returned from Mexico had contracted the deadly virus.
'It has been confirmed that the tests on the patient in Almensa (in southeast Spain) for swine flu have been positive,' Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez told a news conference.
She said a further 20 people are also 'under observation' for suspected swine flu, including 10 in the northeastern region of Catalonia and in three in Andalucia in the south.
The victim is a 23-year-old man who returned from a trip to Mexico on April 22 and who was quarantined on Saturday night, a spokeswoman for the health department in the region of Castilla-la-Mancha said earlier.
She said he is a friend of a 21-year-old woman who was hospitalised in the southeastern town of Hellin late Sunday.
'There has been no other case in Europe, it's the only case recorded in Spain,' Ms Jimenez said.
Elsewhere in Europe, two patients in Scotland are under observation after their return from Mexico. But four people tested for swine flu in France after recently returning from the Americas were given the all-clear by doctors.
In Mexico, the number of confirmed and suspected swine flu deaths has hit 103, according to Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova, with about 400 people in hospital and 1,614 now under observation.
The only other confirmed cases in the world have been in the United States, where 20 people have the disease and in Canada, where there are six. Suspected cases have been reported from Israel, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil and Australia.
The European Union earlier called an emergency meeting for Thursday to evaluate the threat posed by the outbreak. EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliouy recommended avoiding non-essential travel to areas hit by the swine flu outbreak. -- AFP
