Five women basketball players and their male coach were confirmed on Thursday as the first swine flu cases in Iraq, the north's autonomous Kurdish region said.

The six returned to Iraqi Kurdistan from Chicago a week ago and had since been kept in hospital for tests to determine their condition.

"The tests showed they have swine flu virus," regional health minister Ziryan Osman told AFP. "They are currently in hospital and their health is getting better."

On their way back from the US city, the team passed through the Jordanian capital Amman, where another female player was held because tests found she had the A(H1N1) virus.

The World Health Organisation in a global update on Wednesday reported 55 867 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu in 109 countries and 238 human deaths from the disease since late March.

The WHO declared a swine flu pandemic on 11 June.

AFP

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