Ziryan Osman said that the women, who were part of a basketball team that had just returned from Chicago, were aged between 16 and 23, and would be kept in hospital for at least a week to be tested.

"Six of them are in hospital," Osman said. "Their body temperature has increased and they are not well, so they have been kept in hospital."

"I suspect they have swine flu."

On their way back from Chicago the team passed through Amman where one member was held because tests found she had the A(H1N1) virus, Osman said.

World Health Organisation figures show the virus has infected more than 44,000 people around the world, resulting in 180 deaths since late March.

The WHO declared a swine flu pandemic on June 11.