THE Ministry of Health recorded five more cases of the influenza A(H1N1) virus, commonly known as swine flu, last week, bringing the total number of confirmed Cambodian cases to 14.

Four Americans who live and work in Cambodia fell ill after returning from a trip to Bangkok. They tested positive for the virus Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, an Irish man was stopped at Phnom Penh International Airport after showing flu-like symptoms, and test results the following day confirmed that he had contracted the virus, said Ly Sovann, the deputy director of the Health Ministry's Communicable Diseases Control Department.

"We have had 14 cases of swine flu in Cambodia, but nobody has died. We will continue to monitor swine flu at the airport and border crossings" he told the Post Sunday.

He said "all people coming from abroad or living in Cambodia" should call the 115 hotline "if they have a fever, cough or have breathing difficulties".

Nima Asgari, a public health specialist at the World Health Organisation in Phnom Penh, said all H1N1 cases have so far been imported from other countries, though he added that domestic transmission of the virus was inevitable

"It's a matter of time. It will come to Cambodia," he said.

"It doesn't matter if you have ironclad border control."

The threat of a global flu pandemic will be discussed at the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Phuket, Thailand, which opened Sunday.

Thailand has reported the largest number of H1N1 cases in the region, with 4,057 confirmed cases and 24 deaths.