A U.S. clinical study suggests that just half a dose of the Novartis AG H1N1 vaccine may be enough to generate a protective immune response, the Swiss drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The director of the FDA's division of antiviral products is urging caution in the use of a new flu drug that just won special permission to fight H1N1.

Swiss drug giant Novartis says it has redeployed 300 workers from other divisions into its vaccines unit to meet what Chairman and CEO Dr. Daniel Vasella calls the "huge demand" for H1N1 shots.

Healthcare workers in Indiana and Tennessee will be among the first to get swine flu vaccines in the United States Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Major US companies are bracing for a potentially stronger strain of swine flu this year that could threaten the nation's already fragile economic recovery.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the new swine flu vaccine Tuesday, a long-anticipated step as the government works to get vaccinations under way next month.

It's a ubiquitous French tradition, as familiar as a baguette or an espresso at the neighborhood cafe. Now, "la bise," the cheek-to-cheek peck that the French use to say hello or goodbye, has come under pressure from a globalized threat: swine flu.

A full-blown swine flu pandemic hitting the UK could see one in four employees forced to stay home at a cost of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) each day, new research suggests.

As flu season goes into high gear in the southern hemisphere, the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is preparing for a potential flu outbreak in the United States, according to its top official.

Aruban health authorities checked passengers and crew from the cruise ship Ocean Dream on Friday for signs of the swine flu that cut short their Caribbean trip, and some could find themselves spending still more time on board.

Concerned over the surge of phony swine flu treatments hawked on the Internet, the Food and Drug Administration has ordered dozens of Web site operators to stop making fraudulent claims, leading to a drop in the number of scams.

The World Health Organisation warned on Friday against a false sense of security from waning and apparently mild outbreaks of H1N1 flu, saying the worst may not be over.