The spread of the deadly A/H1N1 flu appears to be under control in Brazil with only eight confirmed cases and 18 suspected cases, but the country is still facing challenges posed by other infectious diseases, Brazil's Health Ministry said on Sunday.

According to the latest figures, the A/H1N1 flu outbreak has killed 53 people worldwide, infecting at least 4,379 in 29 nations.

At least 2,532 people in the United States were confirmed to be infected with the virus while the number in Mexico, the epicenter of the epidemic, is 1,626.

Brazilian authorities have acted swiftly, setting up cordons at airports that receive flights from North and Central America, and focusing their efforts on travelers who could be showing flu symptoms, Brazil's Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said.

Among the eight confirmed cases in the country, three caught the virus in Brazil from an existing carrier and the others got infected in the United States, Mexico or Europe.

The health minister said that A/H1N1 is not an endemic in Brazil but the country's health system is facing other challenges like yellow fever, a mosquito-borne disease that has killed nine people in Sao Paulo and seven in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazil is also facing dengue, a disease that has infected 59,360 people in the state of Bahia alone this year.

Other badly hit states include Minas Gerais with 35,290 cases and Espirto Santo with 30,634 cases. In Bahia, 49 people were killed by the disease, and another 56 death cases with dengue-like symptoms are under investigation. In Minas Gerais there are 21 confirmed deaths and in Espirito Santo, 16.

Bahia's health secretary said that dengue looks set to become an endemic disease in Brazil.

"Fifteen years ago this disease was always present with variations in intensity from one region to another, but always with a substantial outbreak," he said.

The dengue hemorrhagic fever, which is the most deadly of all, has also increased. In Bahia, there are 1,145 cases, representing 1.93 percent of the total, higher than the 0.2 to 0.5 percent seen until recently.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2009)