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Latvia Reports 1st Confirmed Case of Swine Flu


Health authorities in Latvia said their country has registered its first confirmed case of swine influenza A-H1N1.

Officials said the patient was hospitalized after flying home from a visit to the United States and Canada by way of Berlin.

Earlier, the Philippines closed down its lower house of Congress after a 49-year-old woman died from the influenza.

Health authorities said the woman, who worked in the legislature, died Friday from heart failure that was aggravated by severe pneumonia.

The A-H1N1 strain of swine flu that has spread around the world this year is a highly contagious new virus.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization declared an influenza pandemic for the first time in more than 40 years.

The U.N. agency said more than 52,000 cases of swine flu infection have been confirmed worldwide, and 231 deaths, not including the one in the Philippines.

On Monday, officials in Montenegro confirmed that country's first case of swine flu. The victim, a student who recently returned from an exchange program in the United States, is recovering after treatment in a hospital in Podgorica.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

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