How accurate are flu tests?

oneofakind

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 9:38 am

I don't get it. I have family members over the years who were sick, went to the doctor, were tested for the flu, told they tested positive for the flu and for something else- one person had a sinus infection, one person had bronchitis and a nasty looking throat and within 24 hours of antibiotics, the fever was gone and they were fine.
Antibiotics only targets the bacteria so how did that flu go away so fast or did they not really have the flu altogether and it was the bronchitis or sinus infection that cause the fever.

nchr

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 9:41 am

Flu tests are accurate because they only react to the flu. How long had they been sick before going to the doctor?

clowny

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 9:43 am

A mild case of flu can last for only 24 hours especially if you start taking tamiflu early enough.

oneofakind

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 9:51 am

They didn't take tamiflu. That's why it's so puzzling. Both had gone to doctor pretty quickly after symptoms appeared.24 /48 hours? Not long enough for a real case of flu to go away by itself. Full blown flu takes quite a few days of high fever.

amother

Wine

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 9:56 am

There are sometimes false positives to flu tests. It's a noted medical fact.

amother

Orange

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 10:01 am

If the test is read right away there are no false positives. If it is read after sitting a while it may not be accurate.
There are false negatives.

tweety1

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 10:05 am

There are also false negatives on the rapid. I had a negative rapid but positive overnight. Most don't take overnights. The urgent care where I went to does.

Ema of 5

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 10:08 am

oneofakind wrote:

I had kids with mild cases of flu this year and last year. Last year, I had 3 kids sick at the same time- one obviously sick, one slightly under the weather, and one only tested because others tested positive. I didn’t give tamiflu, because I felt 1) it wouldn’t be effective because we didn’t know how long they had been sick for, and 2) they weren’t seriously sick, and I felt that the side effects would make them feel worse than they were feeling. The school aged kids were out of school for two day- the day they tested positive, and the next day. This year, my baby was tested because it’s flu season and we couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. I have no idea how long she was sick for, but she also had a mild positive. I didn’t give her tamiflu either.

amother

Wine

Fri, Feb 08 2019, 11:48 am

amother wrote:

If the test is read right away there are no false positives. If it is read after sitting a while it may not be accurate.
There are false negatives.

Pysician here. There are sometimes false positives with any medical test. It's not common, but it does occur. I'm not going to argue with you.