Jennifer Welsh
Business Insider
April 5, 2013
A new bird flu is infecting patients across China, currently 16 patients have tested positive for the virus and six have died. But some flu watchers are convinced that the test that doctors are using to detect the H9N7 virus are faulty — that they aren’t sensitive enough.
Even patients on their death beds are only “weakly positive” Laurie Garrett, senior editor for the Council on Foreign Relations and flu-outbreak-follower notes on twitter:
I’m convinced something is wrong w/ #H7N9 test. Even in patients in critical condition tests are “weakly positive” news.qq.com/a/20130405/000…
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) April 5, 2013
Are #H7N9 tests missing cases? news.com.au/breaking-news/…> Person in close contact w/victim had flu-like symptoms but tested negative for H7N9,
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) April 5, 2013
This could mean that the test is missing vital cases before they get to the seriously ill stage, so we won’t know who is infected until it gets really bad. It could also mean the virus is more widespread than tests are showing us.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!