Media releases compiled by Karin Stanton and Baron Sekiya/Hawaii247.com

The state Department of Health is awaiting confirmation that two new cases of H1N1 Flu have been detected in Hawaii.

The DOH identified two new probable cases Wednesday, and specimens have been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory in Atlanta for confirmation.  

Confirmation is expected within the next two days.

The two cases are both adult Oahu residents and were discovered after an extensive review of statewide clinical commercial laboratory data by the DOH as part of enhanced influenza surveillance in the community.  

It was not clear Wednesday whether the new suspected cases might be related to the three previously identified cases, or whether they are completely new.

Investigation is underway, and state officials will provide additional information when it becomes available.  

According to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the Department of Health and Human Services, we can expect ‘a big bump in the number of cases’ as state labs begin doing confirmatory tests and are able to get through a backlog of tests.

According to the CDC, as of May 7, there were a total of 896 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the United States in 43 different states, including:

Alabama – 4
Arizona – 48
California – 106
Colorado – 17
Connecticut – 4
Delaware – 38
Florida – 5
Georgia – 3
Hawaii – 3
Idaho – 1
Illinois – 204
Indiana – 15
Iowa – 5
Kansas – 7
Kentucky – 2
Louisiana – 7
Maine – 4
Maryland – 4
Massachusetts – 71
Michigan – 9
Minnesota – 1
Missouri – 4
Nebraska – 4
Nevada – 5
New Hampshire – 2
New Jersey – 7
New Mexico – 8
New York – 98
North Carolina – 7
Ohio – 5
Oklahoma – 1
Oregon – 15
Pennsylvania – 2
Rhode Island – 2
South Carolina – 17
Tennessee – 2
Texas – 91
Utah – 8
Virginia – 11
Washington – 23
Wisconsin – 26

There were another 925 probable cases in the United States that have yet to be confirmed.

The World Health Organization (WHO), as of 8 a.m. HST May 7, reported 24 countries have officially reported 2371 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.

Mexico has reported 1112 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 42 deaths. The United States has reported 896 laboratory confirmed human cases, including two deaths.

The following countries have reported laboratory confirmed cases with no deaths – Austria (1), Canada (201), China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1), Colombia (1), Costa Rica (1), Denmark (1), El Salvador (2), France (5), Germany (10), Guatemala (1), Ireland (1), Israel (6), Italy (5), Netherlands (2), New Zealand (5), Poland (1), Portugal (1), Republic of Korea (3), Spain (81), Sweden (1), Switzerland (1) and the United Kingdom (32).

— Find out more:

State Department of Health: www.hawaii.gov/health

Centers for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov/swineflu