The H1NI flu outbreak has resulted in the first death outside Mexico today -- a 23-month-old child in Texas.
Three more cases were confirmed in the UK, adding to the two previously disclosed in Scotland.
A 12-year-old girl is among five people in the UK to have contracted HIN1 flu after visiting Mexico, Gordon Brown told the Commons during prime minister's questions.
Two adults -- one from Birmingham and one from London -- are undergoing treatment.
More than 150 people are suspected to have died of the virus in Mexico and the illness has spread around the globe, but news of the first death outside the country where it originated will increase fears that a pandemic (流行病) could develop.
The infant's death from H1NI flu in the US was confirmed by Dr Richard Besser, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He gave no other details about the child.
America has confirmed 65 cases of HIN1 flu, most of them mild, but Besser said more deaths were likely.
"HIN1 Flu is a very serious infection and each virus is unique so it' s hard to know what we' re going to be seeing, but given what we've seen in Mexico we have expected that we would see more severe infections and we would see deaths," he said.
It was unclear if the girl had contracted the illness in Mexico, or been infected in the US.
Confirmation that infected people in two countries are spreading the new disease to their families or contacts n a sustained way would meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) criteria (标准) for declaring a phase five alert on its scale of one to six. It raised the level from three to four on Monday as the virus moved to Europe.
The WHO spokesman Gregory Hard told reporters yesterday, "If we have a confirmation from the United States or Canada, we could move to phase five."
64. How many cases of HINI flu are there in the UK?
A. One. B. Two. C Three D. Five.
65. According to Dr Richard Besser, why is it hard to predict what things will be like?
A. Because more than 150 people have died of the virus in Mexico.
B. Because H1 N1 flu is a very serious infection and each virus is unique.
C. Because the infections are severe and there will be more deaths.
D. Because the WHO has raised the alert level from three to four.
66. What's the main idea of the news?
A. More cases of H1NI flu were confirmed in the UK.
B. It's hard to deal with the HINI flu.
C. H1NI flu caused death outside Mexico.
D. "The WHO will raise the alert level.