Germany has confirmed three cases of swine flu, German news agency DPA reported Wednesday.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease control center, has found the swine flu virus in the three cases, DPA said.

Germany has become the third European country after Britain and Spain where the deadly swine flu case has been confirmed.

The three patients -- two women and a man -- had recently returned from Mexico, where the outbreak of swine flu is believed to have originated, according to the DPA.

Two of the cases were in the southern state of Bavaria while the third near the northern city of Hamburg, the Robert Koch Institute said.

In Hamburg, a woman aged 22 was undergoing treatment in hospital after showing flu-like symptoms on her return from a trip to Mexico.

A 37-year-old woman was undergoing treatment in the Bavarian town of Kulmbach.

Earlier in the day, health authorities in Bavaria reported the first confirmed case of swine flu in Germany.

The disease was found in a patient in Regensburg, north of Munich. The man had complained of chills and fever after returning from holiday in Mexico a week ago.

Doctors at major airports in Germany are conducting medical tests on passengers arriving from Mexico, the country hardest hit by the outbreak of swine flu, which has probably killed at least 159 people.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2009)