Spain's confirmed swine flu cases have jumped more than 70 percent in a week to 291, AP quoted the Health Ministry as saying today. A ministry official denied the new number was a cause for alarm, saying all the cases are mild and no one has been hospitalized. And because of time lags in getting back test results, some of those confirmed to have had the disease had already been treated and cured, the official said. Spain was the first European country to confirm a case of the disease but has since taken to updating its total only once a week, on Fridays, arguing that the worst of the crisis has passed. Last Friday the number was 167, although over the course of the past week the government has given numbers on outbreaks at three Madrid-area schools. There, the cases now total 66. The World Health Organization named Spain this week as being among countries where the disease was spreading rapidly from person to person. But the ministry official insisted Friday that most of Spain's cases still involve people who have returned from Mexico or another country hit hard by swine flu or have been in contact with someone who was there recently. The ministry used to give a breakdown of cases linked to travelers from Mexico or other heavily affected countries and ones with no such tie. But it stopped giving this information when it started giving updates only once a week. The outbreak has killed 125 and infected almost 22,000 people, although most of those cases have been mild. Most deaths were in Mexico, many before the virus had been identified. The number of countries with confirmed cases stands at 69. More than half of all cases worldwide have been reported in the United States.
