H1N1- were you given a test?

[Peela]

If you were diagnosed with H1N1 by your doctor, how was it diagnosed?

 

I just received Mercola's latest newsletter (usually I just delete it but every now and then something catches my eye)

 

It is saying that the official (U.S.)policy is not to test everyone anymore- just to say it is H1N1 if there are flu symptoms. It is saying that the 1000 deaths the govt mentioned were not laboratory confirmed.

Since thousands die each year from flu anyway, it seems like a publicity stunt, a scare tactic, and not very transparent.

 

I dont know. I just thought I would come here and ask- how were you diagnosed, and when?

[SquirrellyMama]

My family hasn't had the flu but I know people who have and they were not tested. Most of them didn't even go into the dr's office. They called and the dr told them it sounded like H1N1. One lady said they were told since that was the flu going around that is what they were telling people.

 

I was told by a nurse around here that they have stopped testing.

 

Kelly

[MommyX8]

My first case was tested for influenza and it came up positive. They said from that point on, they would just fill Tamiflu on my call.

 

My next case (same day, 600 miles away) was not tested. She is in Chicago and they said that they were only testing on hospital admissions.

 

The pediatrician office here did not want anyone to come in. They also declined Tamiflu for anyone over the age of 4. I think this is a big mistake. They are going to miss strep, ear infections, etc.

 

The flu test has like a 70% chance of false negative (depending on timing.)

[Amber in AUS]

Peela FYI Dr's are not testing in Australia unless the patient is failing to improve or has other underlying symptoms. My MIL was diagnosed but was not tested. I would say that i possibly had it after returning from Malaysia where there was an outbreak at the time however no one else in my family was sick, I did not visit the Dr.

 

It is interesting to note that Malaysia is taking this flu very seriously and was issuing health alert warnings at the airport and was also testing and isolating children at school.

 

From my understanding WHO has mandatory reporting of H1N1 however many countries including Australia are choosing not to participate. My sister works for health dept here and confirmed their recommendation is not to test as we simply do not have the facilities to keep up with testing when there is really no point. Most people dying from H1N1 also have underlying conditions causing complications.

[*Jessica*]

In our area we have had only 3 confirmed cases. According to the local doctors it takes too long to get results back from testing, so everyone with flu-like symptoms is counted as having H1N1 and given Tamiflu.

[Haiku]

I was told that by the time the results are back, it's too late to start Tamiflu or Relenza, so they are simply giving it to everyone who presents with flu-like symptoms.

 

Personally, I don't think everyone should be tested. I think it's a waste of time and money.

 

My daughter woke up this morning with a cough and fever. We are going to the pediatrician at 1. My sister, who is an immunologist, said to ask for Tamiflu or Relenza if the doctor thinks it's the flu because they work for all strains of the flu.

 

Tara

[babysparkler]

DD tested positive, then the rest of us were "assumed" since we all had the same condition.

[swellmomma]

We were not tested. The dr assumed it was H1N1 because of how fast and severe it came on. As well because it is a bit early in the year yet for seasonal flu, so he said he believed the kids had H1N1

[Tammyla]

They stopped testing in our state shortly after they began testing. :confused:

 

Some places are testing for A or B, but most are simply calling it FLI or flu like illness and leaving it at that.

 

 

Disclaimer....my info is from the news, neighbors etc and not first hand.

Edited October 30, 2009 by Tammyla

[LoriM]

The family practice doc we see decided I had H1N1 even though I was running a relatively low fever (100.5), only had some cold symptoms for one day, and the entire episode only lasted 3 days. And no, no test.

 

I think "Swine Flu" is the new code for "sick." Sigh.

[Mommyof4ks]

My son was tested this week, but he does not have it (I figured as much, but I'm just his mom lol). We were told that he would be tested for influenza A and it would be sent off to confirm H1N1 if it were positive for A. He was negative, so it was a moot point. He has cancer, so I don't know if that makes a difference in whether or not he was tested (our oncology clinic usually gets more tests done than a pedi clinic).

[i.love.lucy]

We just got home from the ped w/ dd. She has moderately high fever (102), body aches, headaches, slight sore throat, but no cough. She was not tested for H1N1 because the doc feels the test is unreliable and expensive on our plan. Her symptoms presented as flu, but she was tested for strep because she has a history of many instances with strep. Turns out strep was negative so we were given Tamiflu for dd and also for her little brother who has asthma (but is not sick). DD will weather it fine, she's strong and healthy. I'm the teensiest bit worried about ds because he's so small (preemie at birth) and has asthma. Hopefully this Tamiflu will let us dodge it for him this time around.

[amy g.]

In July, my 11 year old tested positive. My son and I were assumed positive since we had the same symptoms.

 

This week, my husband had similar symptoms, but tested negative.

[mom2jjka]

My (asthmatic) DH ended up int he ER with 'the flu.'

The nurse told us that 'the state' would not allow them to test people for H1N1, so they were just assuming that all flu cases were H1N1. :confused:

[petepie2]

Below is a link to a chart from the CDC that I think is helpful. It has the results for the week of Oct. 11-17th and cumulative results for the last 41 weeks.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

 

In summary for the week of Oct. 11-17th, of the reported specimens that tested positive for flu, 99.8% of them tested positive for type A. Of those that tested positive for type A, 69.7% of were identified as the H1N1 strain. Of the remaining samples, 29.6% were not subtyped at all (meaning they could have been H1N1 or another subtype), and the remainder couldn't be subtyped.

 

Nationwide for the entire flu season (up to week 41), of the samples subtyped that were positive for flu, they were overwhelming H1N1.

 

So while I'm sure there are many people who have just a cold and are told they have the flu (without being tested), I think it's safe to say that IF you do have the flu, the chances that you have H1N1 are very high.

Edited October 30, 2009 by petepie2

[chickenpatty]

Last week, when my kids were sick the ped. said it was most likely h1n1, based on their symptoms.There are no other flu viruses going around here right now, either. By the time I took them to the dr, it was too late to receive tamiflu, so she said there was really no reason to test them.

[LibraryLover]

They tested my son at his college health center with a nasal swab that was positive. I know there are lots of inaccuracies, and I wonder if there are more false negatives than false positives. I wish I knew.

 

At any rate, as alternative as I might be, I would take anything from BuyMyMercolaStuff.commerce with a grain of salt.

[Omma]

We're bringing a fruit basket this evening to a family that has been hit hard by the flu. It was extremely contagious, lasting 4 to 5 days (for round one, anyway) with high fevers, headache, cough, respiratory troubles and one boy throwing up the first day of the event. The one who got better first came down with a relapse 1 1/2 days later. AND they got the seasonal flu shot a month or more ago (but were unable to get the H1N1 vaccine as it was unavailable still in our area). Sounds like H1N1 to me! They were told to stay home and not even bother to come in to the doctor's office! The mom, 12 ds, 9 ds and 3 ds all have it... only the dad who goes to work outside the home has been 'safe' so far.

 

Brenda

[hornblower]

This issue of testing & not testing has been discussed before so I think if you search through some of the flu posts where Perry & I addressed it you'll get some idea why they're not needing to test every case.

 

In a nutshell, full RT PCR is expensive and not justifiable for every case. The quick tests have a large false negative rate. I've not heard of false positives being a prob with the quick tests.

 

You may want to read Effect Measure's post today as it addresses some of this & has links to prev discussion which explain how public health & epidemiologists approach these outbreaks:

 

 

"One frequently hears claims that the current swine flu pandemic has been exaggerated because there are "only" 1000 or so deaths, while seasonal flu is estimated to contribute to tens of thousands of deaths a year. There are two reasons why this is not an apt comparison. We've discussed both here fairly often. The first is that the epidemiology of a pandemic and seasonal flu are very different. Epidemiology studies the patterns of disease in the population and swine flu is hitting -- and killing -- a very different demographic from seasonal flu. Its victims are young and many are vigorous and healthy. The second is that it compares apples to oranges. The 1000 deaths figure is for laboratory confirmed swine flu deaths (as are the various case counts), while the seasonal flu figure is an estimate, not a count of laboratory confirmed influenza deaths (see our post here if you want to know more about how the sausage is made). CDC and the states stopped counting cases early in the pandemic (here for some commentary from us), so we don't know how many cases there have really been. CDC keeps track of the general trends and patterns through a multi-part surveillance system. "

 

the rest is here:

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/10/how_bad_was_the_first_wave.php

[hornblower]

Also, the mercola thing was already specifically discussed in this thread:

 

http://welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1288392&highlight=mercola#post1288392