Swine flu continues to spread. All Nature’s coverage is collected on our news special page. Here is the latest from other sources around the globe.

The first person outside of Mexico to die from the H1N1 virus has been confirmed. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed the victim was a 23-month old child (BBC, NPR).

In Germany, the Robert Koch Institute has confirmed three cases. The institute is the country’s national reference centre for influenza.

In Mexico the death rate from swine flu seems to be dropping, according to the Daily Telegraph:

[Health secretary Jose] Cordova said that the drop in deaths was due to people taking anti-viral drugs soon after they started displaying symptoms. The first victims were treated with antibiotics and other flu medicine as Mexican health workers struggled to find out what was going on.

US researchers working on a vaccine hope to have a reference strain of the disease by May, according to AP. However the virus appears to grow slowly in the chicken eggs conventionally used in vaccine manufacture. “There is a little bit of concern there,” Ruben Donis, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the newswire.

The New York Times says it will be November at the earliest before enough vaccine for all Americans could be made. A more likely date is January.

A number of papers are now carrying stories about the last swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix in 1976. The Philadelphia Enquirer focuses on David Sencer, who was forced from his job at the CDC after vaccine programme developed in response to that outbreak led to deaths.

The LA Times also has good coverage of the 76 outbreak.

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