NEW MEANING has been injected into the adage which says 'If America sneezes, Jamaica catches a cold', as the health ministry announced on Friday that all of the island's confirmed cases of Influenza A (H1N1) are linked to travel to New York and Florida.

Jamaica has 15 confirmed cases since the global outbreak of the virus.

Travel to New York, with 13 persons, represents the bulk of the cases, while the remaining two cases have been linked to travel to Florida.

Of the 15 confirmed cases, four were detected in Kingston and St Andrew; three in St Mary; two in Trelawny, and three in St James.

However, the Ministry of Health also said that the majority of the confirmed cases it has detected have either recovered or are recovering satisfactorily.

The health ministry said all the cases were confirmed by laboratory tests conducted at the University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre in Trinidad and Tobago.

Meanwhile, the Mexican Embassy donated nine boxes of Osel-tamivir (Tami Flu) to the Ministry of Health on Friday. Tami Flu is regarded as one of the most effective antiviral medicines being used to treat Influenza A.

Mexican Ambassador Lenora Rueda handed over the medicine, which is the equivalent of 3,000 treatment courses for up to 10 days, to health minister Rudyard Spencer. The first confirmed case of the H1N1, which has escalated to a global pandemic, was detected in Mexico.

The World Health Organization reported yesterday that as at June 19, there were 44,287 confirmed cases of Influenza A worldwide and 180 deaths.

The Ministry of Health is asking persons with flu-like symptoms to contact their doctor, health centre or hospital. For more information about Influenza A (H1N1), call the ministry's toll-free line at 1-888-663-5683 any day of the week between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.