Perdue says N.C. prepared for H1N1 virus

"Let me reassure all of you that North Carolina is as prepared, and some of us believe, more prepared, than any state in the country," Perdue said Sunday. "We have had an emergency center up and running for more than a week in case this day came, and here it is."

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a resident of Onslow County who recently traveled to Texas has the disease.

So far, the state lab has handled 413 samples and had 320 come back negative. Of those, 65 are still outstanding, Engel said.

Six cases are probable, and one test involving a traveler from Wake County is being rerun because the results were inconclusive, he said. The man was allowed to return to Canada this week after a North Carolina clinician initially suspected he only had a Canadian variant of the seasonal Type A flu, officials said.

Engel also pointed to four probable cases in Craven County, and those cases are in a cluster and are in isolation in keeping with CDC guidelines.

"The Craven (County) cluster is still under investigation, but it's likely that there was household transmission. But all of these folks are being isolated in their homes, (and) none of them are hospitalized yet,” Engel said.

The tally released Sunday by the CDC also shows 30 states now have cases of swine flu. That's up from the CDC's count of 160 confirmed cases in 21 states.

If you have questions about the H1N1 virus in North Carolina, call 800-662-7030.