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North Carolina has identified its first “probable” cases of swine flu, a state health official said Thursday.

Dr. Jeffrey Engel, the state health director, said the two cases involved an Onslow County resident and a traveler who visited Wake County.

Specimens from those cases have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for confirmation.

Engel said state labs have received 235 specimens for testing, with 108 coming in Thursday.

So far, state officials say, developments about the flu have been encouraging.

“The news, frankly, is that in the U.S. it has presented itself, so far, as a relatively mild strain of influenza,” said Bill Furney, a spokesman in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. “(But) that could change.”

In Guilford County, health officials say they anticipate that the swine flu eventually will show up here.

“We haven’t had a case, but I am fully expecting we will,” said Dr. Ward Robinson, medical director with the Guilford County Department of Public Health. “Absolutely.”

Robinson said the threat of swine flu comes near the end of a seasonal flu outbreak.

“(The seasonal flu) peaked about February or early March and was on the decline, but it hasn’t disappeared,” Robinson said.

“What we have is the tail end of one outbreak and the onset of another,” he said.

That’s caused some residents to mistake the seasonal flu for the swine variety.

County health officials say they’ve seen a 17 percent increase in calls since the swine flu outbreak was first reported last week.

“I think that’s significant,” said Steve Ramsey, public health preparedness manager for the county health department. “We are answering a lot of phone calls,”

The department also has posted the latest information about the outbreak and the precautions that county residents should take on its Web site at www.guilfordhealth.org.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com