The swine flu virus did not result from a laboratory accident, the World Health Organization announced, denying rumors started by an Australian virologist. 

"We took this very seriously," Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the agency's deputy director general, said of the virologist's assertion. "But the evidence suggests that this is a naturally occurring virus, not a laboratory-derived virus."

In a telephone news conference, Dr. Fukuda also expressed support for drug companies' making a generic version of the antiviral drug Tamiflu. Many poor countries have no stockpiles of the drug.

Almost 6,500 confirmed cases of the new H1N1 flu have been reported from 33 countries, and 65 people have died, the W.H.O. said. About 4,300 confirmed and probable cases, with 3 deaths, were reported in the United States.

The World Health Organization launched earlier in the week an investigation into the claim by Australian researcher Adrian Gibbs, who argued that the swine flu virus circling the globe may have been created as a result of human error.

Adrian Gibbs, 75, who collaborated on research that led to the development of Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu drug, said in an interview for Bloomber Television that the new strain may have accidentally evolved in eggs scientists use to grow viruses and drugmakers use to make vaccines.

Gibbs said he came to his conclusion as part of an effort to trace the virus's origins by analyzing its genetic blueprint.

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