State News
N.C. now has nine confirmed cases of 'swine flu'
The number is up two from Tuesday. Five of the cases are in Craven County, two are in Onslow County and two are in Carteret County, officials said.
Posted — UpdatedRALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina public health officials said Friday there have been nine confirmed cases of the so-called swine flu in the state.
The number is up two from Tuesday. Five of the cases are in Craven County, two are in Onslow County and two are in Carteret County, officials said.
There are no probable cases under investigation, and a DHHS representative said tests on a suspected case in Wake County returned negative results.
As of Friday, 1,639 cases of the novel H1N1 influenza virus has shown up in 43 states and caused two deaths in Texas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The latest North Carolina cases were not included in those numbers.
The World Health Organization was reporting Friday afternoon 2,500 cases of the virus in 25 countries.
Health officials told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that they are in a good position to quickly produce a vaccine if the flu takes a turn for the worse.
At the same time, the officials cautioned members of a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that there are still elements of what they called the virus that they don't understand, and it was not time for complacency.
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