by Xinhua writer Ma Wenbo

    CAIRO, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The influenza A/H1N1 epidemic is escalating across the Middle East region as the confirmed cases were on the rise and more countries in the relatively immune region fell prey to the virus.

    Qatari Health Ministry reported Wednesday a third case of A/H1N1 flu, which is a 17-year-old Iraqi teenager who came to Qatar on a flight from Washington.

    The oil-rich Gulf Arab country was first hit by the novel flu on Tuesday as two boy who arrived from the United States and Austria respectively were diagnosed with the virus.

    Jordan on Wednesday confirmed three more A/H1N1 flu cases after finding two girls who had recently come from the United States infected with the virus, the first time in the kingdom.

    Jordanian Health Minister Nayef Al Fayez said all the five infected patients arrived in Jordan on Sunday aboard the same flight.

    The A/H1N1 virus also emerged in Yemen, a country located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, as a Yemeni student who had returned from the United States was confirmed as the country's first case, according to Yemeni Health Ministry.

    Officials said all patients in the three countries were given proper medical treatment and are recovering.

    Since an Israeli man was confirmed to have contracted the A/H1N1 virus on April 28, the first case ever debuted in the Middle East region, the number of the confirmed cases in the region have been increasing, together with elsewhere in the world.

    Morocco announced its second case of A/H1N1 flu on Saturday after the first one registered with a Moroccan student who returned from Canada on June 10.

    Palestinian Health Ministry on Tuesday announced that three more influenza A/H1N1 virus cases were discovered in the West Bank, raising the number of A/H1N1 flu cases in the Palestinian territories to five, all of them in the West Bank.

    As the region's most severely-hit country, Israel on Tuesday reported 35 new A/H1N1 flu cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases of the globally spreading disease to 152 in the Jewish state.

    Egyptian Health authorities also announced on Tuesday three new cases of influenza A/H1N1, bringing the number of such cases to 26 in the most populous Arab country.

    So far, the influenza has been found in the Middle East, including Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen and Morocco.

    According to the latest tally by the World Health Organization, 77 countries and regions have officially reported at least 35,928 cases of influenza A/H1N1 infection, including 163 deaths.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu