Wisconsin is now able to find out more quickly if there are confirmed cases of Influenza-A in the state.
Stephanie Smiley with the state Health Department says the state Laboratory of Hygiene has been authorized to conduct it's own tests for the H1N1 flu strain, rather than sending them off to the CDC for confirmation. Smiley says being able to do their own tests lead to the confirmation of over 200 more cases of Influenza-A in Wisconsin in just one day.
Before the state could do its own testing, there were a high number of probable cases. Smiley says those backlogs should be cleared out quickly in the coming days and we'll know much sooner about any future outbreaks.
As of Thursday afternoon, the state had 233 confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu virus.