The Federal Government has defended its strict swine flu quarantine procedures for school children, as the number of Australians infected with the virus rose to 18.
NSW, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT have requested school-age children returning from countries severely affected by swine flu to remain home for one week, whether they are displaying symptoms or not.
Countries deemed to have been severely affected by swine flu are the US, Canada, Japan, Mexico and Panama.
Swine flu facts: the virus, the symptoms and treatment Federal Health Minister Indole Roxon said, while inconvenient, it was one of the most effective ways to contain the virus.
"I know that this will cause an inconvenience to many people, but we do believe it is one of the most effective ways of trying to reduce the spread of this disease,'' she said.
The Government stepped up its containment measures as a West Australian man became the latest to fall ill from the A(H1N1) virus.
The 30-year-old had recently returned from a trip to the United States and Canada. He flew on QF26 flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne, and then on QF481 from Melbourne to Perth.
Authorities are attempting to contact all other passengers from the man's flights.
So far Victoria has the highest number of confirmed infections with 11 cases, while NSW, South Australia and Queensland each have two cases and Western Australia has one.
Two schools in South Australia and two in Victoria have been closed.
Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop said keeping at-risk students away from school was better than closing down whole institutions.
"What we are trying to do at this stage is to ... see if we can actually pinpoint who might be bringing it into the school and therefore get them just to stay at home for a few days,'' he said.
"That way we can stop it spreading in school and that's much better than closing a school of 500 (students).''
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