The swine flu virus has claimed its first Caribbean victim, a pregnant Dominican Republic teenager who also had tuberculosis. She died yesterday. Dominican Republic officials did not have extensive details to provide but issued a brief statement.

As of yesterday, the Dominican Republic has 44 confirmed swine flu cases, and officials have said the vast majority of patients do not require hospitalization. The disease has spread to 69 countries, and within the Caribbean, Barbados, Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are among the countries that have reported swine flu cases.

Health officials in the Dominican Republic have confirmed another nine Swine Flu cases in that country, raising its current total Swine Flu cases to 11. The new cases include six youngsters who were enrolled at the Carol Morgan School, an International school located in the D.R. with over 1100 students from over 30 countries.

All nine new cases are reported to be in good state of health and recovering.

As swine flu cases now top 6,600 worldwide, vaccine makers and other experts met yesterday at the World Health Organization (WHO) to discuss the tough decisions that must be made quickly in order to fight the evolving swine flu virus.

Pharmaceutical companies are said to be ready to begin making a swine flu vaccine — but there are concerns, especially given that the virus may mutate, so many questions abound: For e.g. how much of the swine flu vaccine should be produced? How will it be distributed? Who should get it? etc.

The group’s recommendations will be passed on to WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, who is expected to issue advice to vaccine manufacturers and the World Health Assembly next week.

China and Hong Kong both confirmed yesterday their second separate swine flu cases, both in passengers who flew in from North America. They have now stepped up the search for those who may have come in contact with them.

In China, authorities said a student who had recently returned from Canada and then took a train to the eastern province of Shandong had tested positive for the Swine Flu virus. They immediately started trying to track down anyone who may have had contact with the 19-year-old, even as the search continued for passengers who were on the same flight as mainland China’s first confirmed swine flu case.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, authorities said a 24 year old man, who had returned from the United States, was confirmed with swine flu, and he’s being held in isolation in hospital.

According to World Health Organization figures released today, confirmed cases of the H1N1 swine flu in the United States has climbed to more than 2,500 as of today (May 11), and the U.S. now surpasses Mexico as the country most affected by the outbreak.

The number of deaths in the United States that are linked Swine Flu rose to three over the weekend, with health officials in Washington state reporting late on Saturday that an unidentified man in his 30s had succumbed to the infection.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced earlier today that there are now more than 2,000 confirmed swine flu cases in 23 countries worldwide. The exact figure right now is 2,099, with over half this number being attributed to Mexico, the apparent epicenter of the virus. 44 persons in Mexico have died as a result of the swine flu.

30% of the confirmed cases are in the United States, where authorities say the virus is now quite widespread, and two deaths have been reported. The European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that the total number of cases in Europe rose to 147, with Spain and Britain reporting the most cases.

California state and local health officials have stated that the number of swine flu cases in that state rose to 79 Monday, and more than 120 probable cases have been identified. Of those patients however, just 10 have actually been hospitalized.

In Los Angeles County, eight new cases were confirmed on Monday, making it a total of 11 cases for that county. Six of them were in Los Angeles and five were in Long Beach.

Riverside County had confirmed four more cases, for a total of six, and there were three newly confirmed cases in San Bernardino County.

San Diego County confirmed nine new cases on Monday, for a total of 24. Imperial County added four new confirmed cases, for a total of 22.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) reports today that Swine Flu is spreading globally, and that there are now 985 laboratory confirmed cases in 20 countries. Colombia and El Salvador are the latest countries to join the W.H.O. list, which headed by Mexico (with 590 laboratory confirmed cases) and the United States (with 226). France reported two more cases today — both of them travelers who had returned from Mexico, the apparent epicenter of the outbreak — bringing France’s total to four.

Concern is growing in many countries – China for e.g. has reportedly quarantined approximately 70 Mexican travelers in hospitals and hotels.

In the United States, federal health officials said yesterday that 226 cases had been confirmed in 30 states, with more expected to turn up in additional states in the next few days.

The number of swine flu cases in the U.S. passed 100 today, and U.S. authorities said they eventually could produce enough vaccine for everyone if necessary — but that shots couldn’t begin until this fall at the earliest. Nearly 300 schools across the country were closed today as a direct result of swine flu as well.

The swine flu outbreak has penetrated over a dozen states, and even reached as far as the White House, which disclosed that an aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu apparently got sick while helping arrange President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Mexico. They added however that the aide did not fly on Air Force One and never posed a risk to the president.

So far, the U.S. cases are fairly mild for the most part, with one death – a Mexican toddler who visited Texas with his family — unlike in Mexico where more than 160 suspected deaths have been reported. Apparently also, most of the U.S. cases so far didn’t need a doctor’s care.

Still, the U.S. is taking extraordinary precautions, including shipping millions of doses of anti-flu drugs to states in case they’re needed against what the World Health Organization has called an imminent pandemic, because scientists cannot predict what a brand-new virus might do. A key concern is whether this spring outbreak will resurge in the fall.

In terms of official Swine Flu numbers in the U.S., the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) confirms 109 cases and state officials confirm 19 more. CDC confirms: 50 in New York; 26 in Texas; 14 in California; 10 in South Carolina; two each in Kansas and Massachusetts; and one each in Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada. State officials confirm five in New Jersey; four in Delaware; three additional cases in Arizona; two additional cases in California; two in Colorado; one additional case in Michigan; and one each in Georgia and Minnesota.

Overnight, the swine flu outbreak has spread to four more states here in the U.S., bringing the total to at least 91 cases. There is also the first confirmed U.S. death from the new virus – a 23-month old toddler from Mexico who died in a Houston hospital. The child was from Mexico City and had traveled to Matamoros on a commercial flight with his family to visit relatives in Brownsville, Texas. His symptoms reportedly grew severe, and he was taken to Houston to seek medical treatment but later died.

The four new states that are reporting Swine Flu cases are Arizona, Massachusetts, Michigan and Nevada. Texas has reported that its total has now climbed to 16 cases, while New York has 51, and California has 14.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters on her first day at work following Senate confirmation Tuesday, that “we expect to see more cases, more hospitalizations, and, unfortunately, we are likely to see more deaths from the outbreak.“