NUSA DUA - Swine flu has the potential to set back Asia's fragile economic recovery if it takes hold in the region, the president of the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday.

Haruhiko Kuroda told reporters at the end of the ADB's annual meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that an influenza A(H1N1) pandemic would hit the region's tourism and aviation industries first.

But he said he was confident Asian governments were well prepared, as South Korea confirmed the region's first person-to-person swine flu infection.

"If this new influenza spreads substantially to Asia that could affect the economic recovery," he said.

"Initially of course the tourism and aviation industries... would be hurt and then gradually it would spread to the entire economy.

"So we have to be very alert and prudent but as I said so far the governments have reacted appropriately and they have the ability to continue to do so."

Tests revealed a 44-year-old woman, who had not travelled to Mexico, was infected with influenza A(H1N1), the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

It was the first person-to-person infection in South Korea, a health ministry official told AFP. The country now has two confirmed cases and one probable case.

Hong Kong has the only other confirmed case of swine flu in Asia.