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Should You Ask for a Test for the Flu?

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Should You Ask for a Test for the Flu?

2015年10月20日
Negative test results can bring a sigh of relief, but positive results can also give you peace of mind in knowing what’s wrong. If you think you’re coming down with the flu, is it worth it to ask your doctor to test you for the flu virus? In this podcast, Dr. Tom Miller has the answer as well as some tips for knowing whether your sniffles are due to the flu or just a common cold.

Episode Transcript

面试官: Can you test for the flu and should you ask for it when you go visit your physician if you think you have the flu? We'll examine that next on 范围.

播音员: Medical news and research from University of Utah Physicians and specialists you can use for a happier and healthier life. You're listening to 范围.

面试官: So wouldn't it just be easier if you could get a test for the flu to know if you have it or not? Well, we're going to find out right now. Dr. Tom Miller is internal medicine at the University of Utah Healthcare. First of all, is there a test for the flu?

Dr. 米勒: There are tests for the flu, yes.

史考特: 好吧,我想要一个.

Dr. 米勒: 你没有.

面试官: Why don't I want one or get one?

Dr. 米勒: 你不需要. First you don't have flu symptoms, and if you do have flu symptoms and you're not severely ill, we would just treat you empirically. 意义, if you have symptoms, you have a high fever that starts suddenly, 摇, 发冷, 咳嗽, you basically would have the flu until proven otherwise during the middle of the flu season.

面试官: So you're saying that the flu for a physician is a pretty obvious thing to diagnose. You don't need a test.

Dr. 米勒: Should be, but everybody loves a test Scott.

面试官: 好吧.

Dr. 米勒: Everybody loves the test.

面试官: They like to know for sure.

Dr. 米勒: So we've talked before on the program about being treated for the flu. So there is a treatment, an antiviral that you can give, but you should give it within the first 48 hours. So if one obtains a test to prove whether you have the flu or not it might be longer than 48 hours before you get the test results back, while in the meantime you're feeling miserable.

面试官: Oh. 是的, so I come into the doctor and they're like, "I'll give you the flu test, 如果你想要的话," and then by then it's too late.

Dr. 米勒: The decision is made based on a clinical presentation, so looks like the flu, smells like the flu, it's probably the flu. And we go ahead and treat it. We start the treatment.

面试官: What do I do if I'm convinced I have the flu, and you're not?

Dr. 米勒: I guess we have a problem.

面试官: 你明白了吗?? Do you get people that you say, "Oh I'm sorry you don't have the flu."

Dr. 米勒: No, I generally don't. I mean it's pretty clear when people have the flu. 他们感觉很糟糕. Now they might have a cold, just a common cold. And I can usually explain to them that, "No, you don't have a high fever. It didn't start suddenly. I think this is a cold, which is due to a virus, but it's not the influenza virus." And basically when they are without a fever, that's something that they just get over after several days, and we really don't have effective treatment for that anyway.

面试官: That's the tell-tale sign, is you might feel completely miserable, but if you don't have a high fever above 101 then you likely don't have the flu.

Dr. 米勒: Then if you have shaking, 发冷 and you just feel awful and two hours ago you didn't feel bad, that's pretty much flu. Those are flu-like symptoms, and could be something else. The main thing is you want to get started on the therapy that could actually reduce the severity of the symptoms and turn the thing around, and cut it back by a day or so.

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