NEW YORK, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the World Health Organization, the human H1N1/09 Type A influenza ("Swine Flu") has reached a pandemic level. Over 500,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide with at least 6,500 fatalities.

Another person has died of swine flu in the West Midlands over the past week, NHS chiefs confirm.

US health officials on Thursday warned of an Internet scam doing the rounds which says all adults are required to register a personal swine flu vaccination profile with the federal authorities.

THE HAGUE (AFP) - Dutch authorities said Thursday a patient infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu virus had died, but added that this was not the cause of death.

Swine flu has killed 14 people in Iraq since May, a spokesman for the health ministry said on Thursday, doubling the previously disclosed toll.

Deputy editor Alan Cleaver reports daily on the impact of swine flu in West Cumbria, with a particular slant on how the media and the public are reacting to the worsening crisis.

Dutch authorities said on Thursday a patient infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu virus had died.

The number of new cases of swine flu has halved in England amid signs the second peak of the pandemic is petering out, latest figures show.

The vaccination of millions of Europeans against swine flu has yet to raise any major safety concerns, the European Union's medicines watchdog said Thursday.

The global swine flu pandemic has major implications for solid organ transplants, including donor selection and transplant management and care. There are also significant concerns that swine flu could combine with seasonal or bird flu to create a strain with unpredictable virulence. American and Canadian experts have teamed up to provide expert advice on the infection risks to transplants.