Venezuelan health authorities reported seven new cases of A/H1N1 influenza on Wednesday, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 52.

Six of the new cases were people who have contacts with already infected patients, Collective Health Networks Vice Minister Nancy Perez told state-owned Bolivarian News Agency.

Venezuela confirmed its first case on May 28, a 28-year-old patient who had traveled to Panama.

Among the confirmed cases, 30 percent patients were directly infected by their sick relatives, while the rest are people who had traveled in the United States, Panama, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil.

According to Venezuelan National Institute of Hygiene, 584 cases of the 685 tested samples proved negative and 49 are still under testing.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2009)