Tests & Diagnosis of Swine H1N1 Flu

If you have any of the symptoms of a common cold or viral fever- and you have returned from foreign trip, or someone known to you or whom you have been in contact either while travelling, in office on train, etc... has been with Swine flu. Do not hesitate to approach your doctor.
The screening tests till yet are being only done in government hospitals- you would be tested only if you satisfy any of these criterias, this may change with the upcoming trend of secondary infections spreading locally (internally in India as we have seen in many places including a death in Pune).

If you do have to que up for the tests, do not forget to
Put on a mask or atleast keep a handkercheif on your nose
you may contract swine flu while waiting in line to check if you have!!!

Viral culture
Is the conclusive confirmatory test for diagnosis of Swine flu or H1N1 Virus, in this a sample of mucous secretions from throat or nose is taken from the person being tested (it is called a throat swab) and the collected sample are grown in a cell culture medium conducive to growth of the influenza virus- if it grows up- then swine flu or ifluenza infection is confirmed.

Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ( short- rRT-PCR) Specifically CDC rRT PCR is currently being used all over the world to identify and quantify this virus in the samples of the suspected / affected in dividuals. This is a complicated test which can not be done at all the Laboratories, even those who may be having requisite equipment. Inherently this test is also not 100 % accurate - it may give false negative and false positive results. This means that a person affected with Swine flu virus may be detected as virus free or a non affected person may also be detected as carrying this virus. Tests results may depend on:

1. The expertise of the personnel conducting the test,
2. Time ( duration ) of illness when person is tested- if tested too early , even infected persons may be shown as negative
3. Nature and quantity of sample collected- wether properly collected or not.

Rapid Diagnostic tests popular in US to diagnose influenza infection may not be very helpful in detecting H1N1 infections ( this is the test which lead to false negative diagnosis in Indias first Influenza death).