Dozens of people have died and hundreds of others have been infected in a viral outbreak in Mexico suspected to have been caused by a strain of swine flu.
The UN's health agency, the World Health Organization, believes the virus is behind 60 deaths, mostly in and around the capital, since mid-March.
Local schools have been closed and a vaccination campaign is being launched.
Seven non-fatal cases of a new form of swine flu have also been confirmed in the southern United States.
An official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told the Associated Press news agency that there was no confirmation of any link between the two outbreaks.
The White House said it was following the US outbreak - in California and Texas - closely.
'Mutated from pigs'
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said "unusual end-of-season influenza activity" had been noticed in Mexico starting from the end of March.
Fifty-seven people had died in Mexico City from flu-like symptoms, she said, and another three in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. There are around 800 suspected cases, she said.
Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the virus had "mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans".
The strain of flu had been confirmed in at least 16 deaths, with 44 others being tested, the government said.
It urged people to take preventative measures such as not shaking hands or sharing crockery.
'No contact'
In the US, experts say the seven people who fell ill across two states were suffering from a new form of swine flu that combined pig, bird and human viruses.
"This is the first time that we've seen an avian strain, two swine strains and a human strain," Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the CDC, told AFP.
The CDC said none of the seven victims had been in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu.
It was tracking those who had been in contact with the seven to see if they were ill, it said. All seven had made a full recovery.
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