The global swine flu outbreak worsened April 28 as authorities said hundreds of students at a New York school have fallen ill and federal officials confirmed the first U.S. death from the virus.

Cuba also suspended flights to and from Mexico, becoming the first country to impose a travel ban to the epicenter of the epidemic. Confirmed cases of swine flu were reported for the first time as far away as New Zealand and Israel, joining the United States, Canada, Britain, Spain, and Germany.

Swine flu is believed to have killed more than 150 people in Mexico, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the U.S. had 68 confirmed cases in five states as of press time, with 45 in New York, one in Ohio, one in Indiana, two in Kansas, six in Texas, and 13 in California.

The first U.S. death from swine flu has been confirmed--a 23-month-old child in Texas--amid increasing global anxiety over a health menace that authorities around the world are struggling to contain.

"I fully expect we will see [more] deaths from this infection," said Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC.

That was echoed by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

"It is very likely that we will see more serious presentations of illness and some deaths as we go through this flu cycle," she said.

President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight the illness.

In New York, there were growing signs that the virus was moving beyond St. Francis Preparatory school, where sick students started lining up last week at the nurse's office. The outbreak came just days after a group of students returned from spring break in Cancun.

At the 2,700-student school, the largest Roman Catholic high school in the nation, "many hundreds of students were ill with symptoms that are most likely swine flu," said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. The cases haven't been confirmed.