HOUSTON, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Three people have died and 260 new cases of A/H1N1 flu have been confirmed in the U.S. State of New Jersey during the past week, bringing the state's death toll to nine and its total number of the cases to 1159, the state health authorities said Wednesday.

    Tom Slater, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Senior Services, said that the latest victims were two men — a 54-year-old from Union County and a 45-year-old from Middlesex County — and a 6-year-old Ocean County boy. He also said all three had underlying health conditions, but declined to disclose further details.

    Statistics released by the department shows that Essex and Middlesex are the two hardest-hit counties, with 95 and 90 confirmed cases respectively. Both counties reported one death from the A/H1N1 flu virus.

    Last Thursday, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed six deaths and 899 cases of the A/H1N1 flu virus in the state.

    Nationwide, the CDC reported a total of 27,717 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu in all the 50 states plus the District of Columbia and U.S. territory Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, with 127 deaths in 22 states.

    But the New Jersey health department said that the cumulative number of "confirmed" cases does not reflect the overall incidence of the A/H1N1 flu in the state because it is only testing cases in which patients are hospitalized or there are clusters of illness.

    Despite the rising death toll, Slater said New Jerseyans need not panic.

    "Although we do have some deaths -- and those are very unfortunate situations -- it continues for the most part to be mild," he said. "We're watching with concern but not alarm."

    Slater said health officials are closely watching how the virus behaves in the southern hemisphere, now in the midst of flu season.

    "Flu viruses can change very quickly, and we need to see how A/H1N1 reacts with the seasonal flu in the southern hemisphere. We need to see if it changes or becomes stronger," he explained.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu