"We're one country, we're one community. And when we help to make everybody well, one person well, then everybody has the potential to get well. We can't be divided by communities," he said.

The president also pledged to provide people all over the country with information on flu, saying that "government at every level has to make sure that good information is getting out to every part of the broader American community."

Obama noted that "one of the things that we have to understand is public health issues like this -- not only is it important for all communities within the United States to be working together, it's also important to be working internationally together."

The president said that A/H1N1 flu has hit Mexico much more badly than it has hit the United States, and he's been working very closely with the Mexican government on this issue.

"I spoke to (Mexican) President Calderon last weekend to ensure that we were providing Mexico with the assistance that it needed," he said.

Obama made the remarks during a brief surprise appearance at the event for the Hispanic community on the virus, which was conducted mostly in Spanish.

With the rapid growth of confirmed cases, US citizens begin to change their behavior, a study released Friday showed.

According to a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, two-thirds people reported they or someone in their household have washed their hands or used hand sanitizer more frequently because of the outbreak. About 55 percent had made plans to stay home with children or work from home if they became sick, if school closed or if a family member got sick.

About one in 10 Americans have stopped hugging and kissing close friends or relatives because of concerns about swine flu. About the same number have stopped shaking hands, said the study.

"This outbreak has permeated a lot of American life," said Robert Blendon, the Harvard School of Public Health researcher who led the study based on a survey on 1,000 US adults.

On Tuesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said a woman, who died earlier this week, has been the first death of a United States resident with A/H1N1 flu.

On April 29, the CDC said a 23-month-old toddler in Texas became the first fatality from A/H1N1 flu in the United States. The child was a Mexican who had traveled to Texas for medical treatment. He was also the first person to have died of A/H1N1 flu outside of Mexico.

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2009)