Authorities across the region have moved quickly to try to prevent the spread of the disease, which is suspected of killing more than 100 people in Mexico and may have spread to Europe, the Middle East and New Zealand.

Airport checks across the region have been stepped up, China has banned pork imports, and medical facilities have been put on high alert for any patients showing flu-like symptoms.

Many of the measures being activated were set up during the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, which killed some 800 people, mainly in Hong Kong and China.

The epidemic gave Asia "a badly needed lesson for surveillance and the right infection control mechanisms," Peter Cordingley, spokesman for the WHO's Western Pacific office in Manila, told AFP.

"Asia is better prepared and in a better position than others (as a result)," he said.

In addition, the ongoing battle with bird flu, which has killed some 250 people worldwide, has also ensured Asia remains vigilant against infectious diseases.

"ASEAN member states are better prepared now following the experience from recent SARS and avian influenza outbreaks," the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc said in a statement.

"ASEAN has the existing mechanisms and networks for strengthening preparedness and response to a possible pandemic."

Hong Kong, home to both the world's first reported major outbreak of bird flu among humans in 1997 and a major centre of the SARS outbreak, has established international standards in terms of biosecurity.

Three people have already been admitted to hospital here with flu symptoms with one woman, who recently returned from San Francisco, still being tested for swine flu.

Every passenger arriving by plane or ferry into Hong Kong now passes through an infrared temperature check to test for signs of fever.

The city, whose population is around seven million, has also stockpiled around 20 million doses of Tamiflu, an anti-flu medicine.

X-ray machines and scanners, and often sniffer dogs, are used on the border-crossing with mainland China to try to catch illegally smuggled poultry.

The city has banned backyard poultry farms and last year announced a 120 million US dollar plan to phase out the sale of live chickens in markets, a controversial move in a city that highly prizes freshness in food.

Hong Kong residents have grown accustomed to wearing face-masks to protect themselves against SARS and other viruses, while many companies have contingency plans in place to allow staff to work at home in case of outbreaks.

Hong Kong's universities have also become leading global research centres in infectious diseases.

Paul Chan, a microbiologist at Chinese University of Hong Kong, said he believed the city's systems provided an example for others.

"Hong Kong has a very sophisticated system in identifying and isolating infected cases," he told AFP.

"From the experience with SARS and bird flu, our medical staff have grown highly alert to infected patients and are accustomed to procedures in preventing the patients from infecting others."

In Singapore, Leo Yee Sin, clinical department head of infectious diseases at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said the SARS experience meant the city-state could now react more quickly.

"One of the key things we learned from SARS is that we need to be prepared, we need to be ready and we need to have ongoing good surveillance systems," she said.

Vietnam has reintroduced the monitoring the temperatures of people arriving from overseas at some major entry points since the outbreak in Mexico.

"We have got used to the situation, as we had a chance to be on very high alert since the SARS epidemic," said Le Truong Giang, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City department of health.

"We will react very quickly in any situation," he said.

Despite the improvements, Cordingley warned against complacency: "Every country in the world is at risk."

Other experts warned that biosecurity blindspots remained in the region.

In Indonesia, Udayana University virologist Ngurah Mahardika said the country needed to increase its ability to deal with bird flu.

"In my view a lot has to be done to improve preparedness. I'm not sure in any case in Indonesia the system is running very well," he said.

And despite its tough measures, Hong Kong discovered the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in a poultry farm for the first time in six years last December, a reminder of the lingering threat.

earlier related report
Asia steps up fight to prevent swine flu spread
Asian governments imposed strict controls Monday to prevent swine flu from sweeping the region, screening air passengers and vowing to quarantine anyone showing symptoms of the deadly virus.

In New Zealand, where nine high school students and a teacher were thought likely to have swine flu after returning from Mexico, authorities were tracking down hundreds of air passengers who may also be at risk.

Health officials in Hong Kong, which was at the forefront of the SARS epidemic in 2003 and has since been on alert for bird flu, said they would detain anyone with symptoms of swine flu after arriving from an infected area.

Along with Singapore, Hong Kong advised against all non-essential travel to worst-hit Mexico, where more than 100 deaths were suspected, while China warned international travellers to be alert for any sign of infection.

Beijing also banned all pork imports from Mexico and parts of the United States, despite health officials saying the current outbreak was being spread by human-to-human contact.

The most common measure being put in place was the use of thermal scanners, which have been a common feature in many Asian airports since the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic six years ago.

In Malaysia, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that all travellers arriving from the United States -- where 20 cases have been confirmed in five states -- were being screened.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the country was well prepared to deal with any new flu outbreak thanks to a plan drawn up during the 2003 bird flu scare, with stocks of anti-flu medication in place.

Japan said it would fast-track efforts to find a vaccine, while one company pulled back the families of staff based in Mexico, travel agencies scrapped package tours and drug stores reported a brisk trade in face masks.

Hong Kong announced some of the toughest measures to ward against an outbreak, warning that passengers arriving from affected areas and showing flu-like symptoms would be quarantined.

"We will take that patient to the hospital and let him stay there and have a test and until the test result is negative, we won't allow him to get out of the hospital," said Thomas Tsang, from the city's centre for health protection.

Airlines were broadcasting messages on selected inbound flights advising passengers to report symptoms such as sudden fever.

In Vietnam, where 56 people have died from bird flu since 2003, airport screening was focused on passengers arriving from North America, the Thanh Nien newspaper reported.

"The city must take immediate measures to prevent and cope with the dangerous disease," Nguyen Van Chau, the director of Ho Chi Minh City's health department, was quoted as saying.

Thailand, which recorded 17 fatal human cases of bird flu between 2004 and the last outbreak in August 2006, also started screening passengers arriving at its main international airport in Bangkok.

In Australia, hospital emergency wards, doctors and border control staff were given guidelines on how to spot the virus, as two people there were cleared of carrying the deadly strain.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said that all planes arriving from the Americas would be required to report on the health status of passengers before receiving permission to land and that anyone with flu-like symptoms would be quarantined.

Despite the World Health organisation warning at the weekend that the virus had the potential to cause a pandemic, Taiwan Health Minister Yeh Chin-chuan urged the public to remain calm.

"There is no need to panic over the outbreak at the moment. The present situation is like a tropical storm emerging on the other side of the Pacific which poses no immediate threat to people here," he said.

Philippine authorities announced that they were screening passengers arriving from Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York and urged people to avoid hugging and kissing at public gatherings.

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