Nairobi - Kenya's Health Minister Beth Mugo on Monday said that the East African nation had recorded its first confirmed case of swine flu.

Mugo said that the A(H1N1) virus had been detected in a British student, who developed the symptoms over the weekend.

The student, part of a group who travelled to the western city of Kisumu, did not require hospital treatment, but had been quarantined in a hotel.

Africa has so far been less hard-hit than the rest of the world.

South Africa recently became the first sub-Saharan African country to confirm a case of swine flu. A handful of cases have since been recorded in Ethiopia, the Ivory Coast and Cape Verde.

The World Health Organization says many African nations are particularly vulnerable due to poor health care systems and the presence of other respiratory illnesses, such as tuberculosis.

According to the latest figures on the WHO's website, there have been 59,814 cases of swine flu and 263 deaths worldwide.(dpa)