I believe there is no "test" for flu. When they are doing throat or nose cultures (where they use a swab to collect a specimen to grow out bacteria and then see what it is sensitive to for treatment or else define it as viral if nothing grows)they are really ruling things out. If you have a bacterial cause, they use antibiotics. Antibiotics do not work on viral illnesses. Antiviral agents work on viruses like flu. They will diagnose flu by ruling out other causes (bacteria) and by looking at symptoms-high fever,cough,malaise,joint pain,nausea,vomiting etc. Flu is always accopmpanied by high fever. When a person is compromised by the flu, they can also develope a secondary bacterial infection for which the doctor may prescribe an antibiotic.(This explaines the person who will tell you how they were cured of the flu with antibiotics.....) Good things to know about flu-your county will report the occurance of flu to your state health department. That info is then available to you-usually on the state health department web site. It is a good place to check regularly, If you see increasing numbers of flu casas in your county and you start to feel punky it is a good piece of info to encourage you to seek a doctors evaluation quicker. It is still early for flu in most places, but that could change at any moment. Be alert, be aware, seek medical treatment quickly. People forget that the flu can be deadly, but with early and strong medical intervention flu can be minimized.
