Munich  - The new type of swine flu has jumped from one human to another within Germany for the first time, officials said Friday, with a nurse in Bavaria apparently catching the virus from a patient who had been in Mexico.

The case brings the confirmed tally of the H1N1 infections in Germany to five, with a national health official, Joerg Hacker of the Robert Koch Institute, describing the cases as "generally mild."

An inquiry has begun into how the 42-year-old woman picked up the illness from a male patient in a hospital at Mallersdorf, 100 kilometres northeast of Munich, despite quarantine precautions.

The nurse is already recovering, the National Reference Centre for Influenza in Berlin said.