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Hello, this is my first time posting to this board, although  I have lurked a few times.

In my area physicians are now diagnosing H1N1 over the phone.  They have asked that anyone with flu-like symptoms not come the the office, or go to walk-in clinics or hospitals.  Instead they ask that you phone your GP and tell him/her which symptoms you are experiencing.  The GP then decides if you have H1N1, and if so faxes/emails a prescription to your pharmacy.  You are then told to stay in your home for 5 days, and not have anyone else come in (aside from those who already live there).

Doctors are not doing any lab tests to confirm whether patients have the regular seasonal flu, or the H1N1.  Apparently the tests are too costly, and would be even more costly if they had to be rushed (which they would be because of the possible severity of the H1N1).  I personally don't agree with it.  I understand the budget restraints that this poses, but on the other hand, how many people are being treated for H1N1 that don't actually have it?  How is that healthy?  And in addition to that, how can we even pretend that the statistics for this are going to be accurate?  Three months from now when they tell us that XXX number of people have been infected with the H1N1 virus, we won't be able to trust that number because not all of these people will have actually been confirmed with lab tests.

I guess it's a catch 22.

What are your thoughts?

I just read in our local paper that the test to confirm h1n1 costs $300, yes you read that right. Three hundred dollars!    So most doctors are not doing this test anyway.   they do the test to see if its strain A and h1n1 is the most common strain A so thats how they are diagnosing most of the cases you see as confirmed.    

I would think most doctors should be able to tell if its the real deal, and if it saves further spreading by doing it over the phone, great.   I would assume thats only for established patients, I dont see doctors diagnosing random people with it who arent their patients.  I know with our family doctors, there is a trust that has built up over the years.  he would believe that I was describing my symptoms accurately.