No blood test for influenza

There is no such thing as a blood test for influenza. If you've been searching for one, you can stop.

Influenza is a respiratory disease, so specimens preferred for influenza testing come from the respiratory system: nasopharyngeal swab (from the upper part of the throat behind the nose), nasopharyngeal swab combined with oropharyngeal swab (from the cavity at the back of your mouth), or "nasal aspirate" (translation: "snot"). If specimens from those locations cannot be collected, a nasal swab or oropharyngeal swab by itself will work.

But not a blood sample. Swabs, not syringes.

You can read the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on collecting, storing, processing and testing influenza specimens.

As a colleague related in his account of being tested for H1N1 last month, Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore took a blood sample from him when he went to be tested for influenza. When he asked why, he was told only that it was "to be sure you don't have anything else".

If medical personnel draw a sample of your blood for testing, they aren't looking for influenza. They might be looking for bacterial infections like typhoid or sepsis, viral infections found in Asia like malaria, dengue fever, hepatitis, yellow fever, or some other blood-borne pathogen. They could also be looking for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), of course, the cause of AIDS.

Note: An agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test is a basic screening procedure to detect the presence of influenza Type A antibodies in the blood of domestic animals in the United States.

In many countries, hospitals, clinics and doctors would not be allowed to embark on a fishing expedition without the individual's written consent, and they'd be governed--strictly--by laws on confidentiality of patient information. They should have a clear, stated reason for taking a blood sample from you, and you should know and understand what that reason is.

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Nathaniel Forbes

Nathaniel Forbes is the director of Forbes Calamity Prevention, a Singapore-based consulting firm providing business continuity, crisis management and emergency response advice and training to multinational companies, with a focus on companies with offices in Asia. The firm is 10 years old. FCP's current and past clients include Singapore Exchange Ltd, OCBC Bank, AXA Insurance, The Gillette Company, Siemens and ABN Amro Bank. A former President of the Singapore Computer Society’s Business Continuity Group, Nathaniel passed the DRII’s Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP) examination in 1997. He has lived, traveled or worked in Asia since 1973.