Australia records first case of new swine flu strain

Sydney: Australia has recorded its first confirmed case of the new strain of flu, but the woman who tested positive has made a full recovery, health officials said on Saturday.

The new H1N1 flu has killed its first patient in Canada, making it the third country after Mexico and the United States to report a death from the virus that has sickened more than 3,000 people in 27 countries.

The Australian woman had flown into the Queensland state capital Brisbane from Los Angeles on Thursday, said Queensland's chief medical officer Dr Jeanette Young.

The unidentified woman from New South Wales state had felt flu symptoms while in the United States in April and returned a "weak positive" for the H1N1 virus after samples were tested at a World Health Organisation laboratory in Australia, Young said.

She said other passengers on board the same Qantas flight were being contacted, although the woman was not thought to have been infectious when she boarded the plane.