The State’s top medic tonight warned any recent visitors to Mexico, California or Texas suffering flu-symptoms to stay indoors and call a doctor.
Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health, said officials were in close contact with their counterparts across Europe over the outbreak of swine flu.
But despite the warning he said there had been no recorded cases in Ireland or Europe and the level of flu activity here remained low.
“There are no current travel restrictions on those who are planning to visit the affected areas,” he said.
“However, anyone with flu-like symptoms and who has recently travelled to the affected areas should stay at home, to limit contact with others, and seek medical advice from their general practitioner.”
Dr Holohan said the events in the US and Mexico required “vigilance by our public health authorities”.
He said he had been keeping in close contact with the Health Service Executive and with the National Pandemic Expert Group.
Conference calls were also taking place between health officials and the European Centres for Disease Control, WHO and EU member states.
“The purpose of these high level discussions is to ensure that the situation is closely monitored and to ensure that any necessary additional responses are put in place and are appropriately co-ordinated,” Dr Holohan said.
Last night, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health issued a joint warning over the outbreak.
They said they were closely monitoring the outbreak of human swine influenza which has claimed over 60 lives saying, officials from the HSE and the Health Protection Surveillance Centre were contact with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) about the outbreak.
Signs and symptoms of this virus have consisted of influenza-like illness - fever and respiratory tract illness (cough, sore throat, runny nose), headache, muscle aches - and some cases have had vomiting and diarrhoea.
Dr Kelleher said the virus had not been previously detected in pigs or humans.
Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection and whether additional people have been infected with similar swine influenza viruses, he said.
The virus appears to have spread from human to human but it is not yet clear how easily it spreads.
Dr Kelleher said: “One important precaution being adopted is to ensure that health systems worldwide rapidly develop familiarity with this new virus.
“This will allow for the careful surveillance that WHO and ECDC has recommended. WHO, ECDC and all EU member states will be working together to provide support and advice on this issue,” he said.