San Jose  - Costa Rican President Oscar Arias was suffering from the A-H1N1 virus, or swine flu, the government announced Tuesday.

Arias, 68, had a cold in the morning and a subsequent examination revealed that he had been infected with the swine flu virus, Parliament chief Francisco Antonio Pacheco told reporters.

He said the president was in "fairly good shape," but all his engagements had been cancelled. Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and mediator in the Honduran crisis, was to remain in isolation for seven days.

Costa Rica has so far reported 28 swine flu-related deaths. (dpa)