Mexico City, Aug 27 (EFE) The death toll from swine flu has risen to 179 in Mexico, authorities here have said.

The health secretariat had reported 164 deaths from swine flu in its bulletin last week.

Of the 179 people who have died, 88 were women, and 72.1 percent of the victims were between the ages of 20 and 54, the secretariat said Wednesday.

Most of the cases were in the southern state of Chiapas, the eastern state of Yucatan, Mexico City, the western state of Jalisco, the eastern state of Veracruz, the northeastern state of Tamaulipas and the southeastern state of Tabasco.

A total of 186,166 swine flu cases and 1,799 deaths have been reported around the world, according to the World Health Organization.

'The number of reported cases may be less than the real figure' because WHO is no longer asking countries to report confirmed cases, the health secretariat said.

Swine flu was first detected in Mexico in April.