Brazil's health ministry on Thursday announced a new suspected case of A/H1N1 flu, raising the number of suspected cases in the country to 38.

The ministry said the number of people being monitored in the country declined from Wednesday's 39 to Thursday's 24 while cases diagnosed as other illnesses increased from 118 to 217.

Brazil currently has eight confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu. Two patients were infected in Brazil and the others caught the flu in international trips.

A latest report by the World Health Organization showed that 33countries have officially reported 6,497 cases of the flu, including 65 deaths.

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2009)