While big pharmaceutical firms are ramping up efforts to mass-produce a vaccine for H1N1, they are still months away from having enough stocks - too late for the Southern Hemisphere's winter flu season.

South America has already recorded five deaths from the disease: two in Chile, one in Colombia last week and, most recently, those of a three-month-old girl and a 28-year-old man with leukemia in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires.

According to the latest statistics on Tuesday, Chile's confirmed number of patients with H1N1 flu soared by several hundred from 2,355 to 3,125. Of the confirmed cases, two have died, while 2.7 per cent, or about 84 people, have required hospitalization, while 77 per cent have recovered and about 20 per cent were continuing treatment and recuperating at home.

Other national health authorities also registered increases with Argentina reporting 733, Peru with 113, Brazil 69, Ecuador 84, Venezuela 44, Uruguay 36, Paraguay 25 and Suriname 13.

Those figures are far overshadowed by the data from North America, the apparent source of the pandemic.

Mexican authorities say they have had 109 deaths and 6,294 infected cases.

The United States on Tuesday added a nine-year-old boy to its death toll, bringing it to 47, alongside 17,855 infected cases. Canada has six deaths and 3,515 infections.

Central America and the Caribbean have also been hit, registering nearly 800 infections and three deaths (one each in Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala).

Although the A(H1N1) virus has been classed as relatively mild since first being detected in April, its unusually strong effect on the young, on those with other underlying health problems, and on the poor have made it a redoubtable challenge.

US rival Baxter said on Tuesday it should have its H1N1 vaccine commercially available in July. -- AFP