TAIPEI - Taiwan confirmed its third swine flu case on Friday in a student returning from the United States, as authorities advised against school trips to more heavily infected countries.

The 23-year-old woman was running a fever after arriving from San Francisco early Thursday and tested positive for A(H1N1) influenza, said the Centres for Disease Control.

She was the second swine flu case in an overseas Taiwanese student, prompting the education ministry to suspend a school trip it sponsored to Japan and advise students against visiting places with higher levels of infection.

The ministry also urged overseas students with flu symptoms to seek immediate treatment before returning home for the summer holidays.

Health authorities were tracking down passengers who sat near the student on an EVA Air flight for screening. The island's first confirmed case was an Australian doctor who arrived by plane from New York via Hong Kong earlier in the week.

The swine flu virus has claimed 85 lives worldwide with more than 11,000 infections confirmed, according to the World Health Organization.