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NUNAVUT - Four Nunavummiut have been diagnosed with the territory's first cases of swine flu.

Laboratory tests have confirmed the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, in four patients, three of whom have been flown to the children's ward of Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife, according to a weekend press release from the Department of Health and Social Services.

The cases are from more than one community and not connected, the health department stated.

Nunavut's chief medical officer Dr. Isaac Sobol said the patient with the first confirmed case of swine flu, diagnosed last Thursday, is recovering in an undisclosed hospital in southern Canada. That patient had a "pre-existing medical condition" according to Sobol.

Nunavut's health department has not released the names and home communities of the patients to avoid "stigmatizing or panicking" Nunavut residents, the chief medical officer said.

The Department of Health and Social Services is not taking any additional protective measures because it is already monitoring the situation closely, Sobol said.

The patients had not travelled recently to any places with outbreaks of swine flu such as Mexico and parts of the U.S.

Sobol said most of the 1,000 cases of swine flu in Canada have been very mild, their symptoms indistinguishable from older, more familiar strains of the virus.

"Fortunately, it is not the nasty virus we expected with a pandemic," Sobol said.

His advice on swine flu prevention is the same as with any other flu: to wash hands frequently, cough or sneeze into your sleeve, and stay at home when you are not feeling well.