The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert for swine flu by one level to phase 4, two steps short of declaring a full-blown pandemic.

Two weeks after the first known swine flu death, Mexico still hasn't given medicine to the families of the dead. It hasn't determined where the outbreak began or how it spread.

Hong Kong said it has assigned a team of scientists to develop a test that will hopefully cut the time it takes to diagnose the new swine flu strain from a few days to a few hours.

Msnbc.com readers express worries about dangers from the disease outbreak.

A drug already sold for other prostate problems significantly cut the chances of prostate cancer being found in men with an increased risk of the disease, doctors reported Monday.