Eighteen US troops in Kuwait have H1N1 - official

* First cases in Gulf Arab region

* Kuwait is logistics base for U.S. troops

KUWAIT, May 24 (Reuters) - Eighteen U.S. soldiers in Kuwait have H1N1 influenza, the first cases of the so-called swine flu in the Gulf Arab oil-exporting region, a government official said on Sunday.

"(The troops) were confirmed with the virus upon their arrival from their country to the military base (in Kuwait)," Ibrahim al-Abdulhadi told Reuters.

On Saturday, the state news agency KUNA had quoted a government official as saying the virus had been detected in an unspecified number of U.S. soldiers passing through Kuwait.

Kuwait is a logistics base for the U.S. army in support of its troops in Iraq.

More details were due to be given at a news conference later on Sunday.

"We are aware that H1N1 influenza cases have been tentatively confirmed among U.S. military personnel assigned abroad, including soldiers transiting via U.S. military bases in Kuwait," the U.S. embassy said in a statement on KUNA.

"They have not come into any contact with the Kuwaiti population," it said.

The United Arab Emirates said on Thursday it had placed an air passenger from Canada in isolation over concerns he might have the H1N1 flu.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday it would not hesitate to raise the global pandemic alert to the top of the six-point scale if the H1N1 flu was spreading globally.

The flu has killed 86 people and infected more than 11,000 in 42 countries, according to health officials.

(Reporting by Eman Goma; Editing by Andrew Hammond and Ralph Gowling)