Kansas swine flu cases likely to jump

? Kansas officials say they have two more “presumptively confirmed” cases of swine flu in the state.

If verified by federal labs, it would raise the number of Kansas cases to four, with one probable case in Johnson County still awaiting further testing.

Maggie Thompson of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said Sunday that the state lab used new test kits sent from the Centers for Disease and Prevention that were used to confirm the cases. The cases were in Sedgwick County and in Johnson County, separate from the probable case of a resident there who is hospitalized.

KDHE says additional cases are likely to be announced soon, but didn’t give a specific time.

CDC is requiring states send five confirmed tests to Atlanta for verification before they can lift the presumptive label on cases. However, state officials said they are treating the cases as if they were confirmed.

The health department provided no additional details about the age or gender of the new patients.

But the Sedgwick County Health Department on Friday said swine flu was possible in a student at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School.