Two children who arrived in Sydney on a cruise ship yesterday morning and a nine-year-old boy who returned from a holiday in the United States have tested positive to swine flu, say health officials.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon said today the number of swine flu cases in Australia - which now stands at 23 - will increase quickly.
Were you on the cruise ship? Post a message below, or email us . Swine flu facts: the virus, the symptoms, the treatment "We are moving into a different phase here in Australia; the disease will be spreading quickly," she said.
"We know with the increased number of cases that there will be increased contact, that there will be more people who will be confirmed with having swine flu.
"We need to put all our effort into making sure that is a small number, as small as we can keep it."
Victoria has 13 confirmed swine flu cases, NSW five, South Australia and Queensland two, and Western Australia one.
The two five-year-old Australian children were among 2000 passengers aboard the Pacific Dawn which had returned from a South Pacific cruise.
A P&O Cruises spokeswoman said the boat had made one stop in Vanuatu and two stops in New Caledonia.
NSW Health has asked the 2000 people on board to stay at home for seven days.
While authorities said they would contact every passenger, the 130 who indicated they had flu-like symptoms when they disembarked were being contacted immediately and Tamiflu treatment was being arranged.
Thirteen Queenslanders on board the ship have been admitted to Gold Coast Hospital's emergency department after reporting flu-like symptoms.
The NSW Chief Health Officer, Dr Kerry Chant, said a "significant proportion" of them were being tested for swine flu.
The two children were treated on board with Tamiflu and isolated until they were symptom-free for 24 hours.
The departure of the Pacific Dawn was delayed several hours while test results came through.
A small number of crew members who said they were unwell were taken off the ship and put in home isolation.
"People on board have been briefed by the cruise ship, and also our public health doctors are on board, to indicate that there is a small risk of human swine influenza being in the crew members on board the ship," Dr Chant said.
A nine-year-old boy also tested positive last night for swine flu after arriving in Sydney on Sunday. He had been travelling through the US and Canada with his family, who have been placed into isolation.
Meanwhile health officials in NSW have defended the decision not to extend the voluntary exclusion of school children returning from countries severely affected by swine flu to preschools and child-care centres, but say they will monitor the situation.
Children are often called "super spreaders" because they have low levels of hygiene awareness and no immunity to strains that have circulated over time.
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