DS/12 came home from school Friday with a slight cough and a fever. His fever has been running 103-104 until just a few hours ago, the cough hasn't been too bad, dry but not super frequent. I'm not normally an alarmist with viruses, usually wait a few days before considering taking them in, but I wanted to know if it was just a cold or the flu, so we went to the dr. yesterday. They tested for types A & B flu and strep, both rapid tests were negative. I asked about testing for H1N1 and they said that the test for type A was for H1N1. Today I was talking to someone at church who's a nurse practitioner/respiratory therapist, and she said the Type A test couldn't have been for H1N1 because they're different tests. Who's right? I looked up some info and it said that H1N1 is a subtype of A. Made me think that a negative might mean it's not Type A or H1N1, but a positive would mean it is Type A, and might be H1N1 but would need a separate test to confirm. Is that right, or do I have it all wrong?
He woke up this morning with a 104 temp and a REALLY sore throat, but as of a few hours ago the temp has been staying around 100.7 without meds. Nose is a little congested, eyes were watery earlier. I'm hoping this is just a bad cold. Does it sound that way to you, or is there still a chance it's flu? I know even the seasonal tests aren't 100% accurate. I almost wished it was strep so that we could have treated him, he'd have been feeling a lot better by now. It's hard not being able to anything but push fluids, KWIM?
I'm not Eve, but from everything I've heard throughout my kids childhood, it is not a cold if there is a relatively high fever involved. Sometimes they get low grade, but never high unless there's a secondary infection. I would definitely treat it as if it were the flu, and give lots of fluids.
Boy, I've been derelict in making it here lately. LOL. Could be because we're being slammed with flu cases lately....
It does sound like the flu based on symptoms but you're right:
(1) The flu test can be negative and you can still have the flu. The false negative rate is not zero.
(2) The commercially available flu tests only test for influenza A/B - not H1N1. I don't know of any commercially available kits for distinguishing between seasonal and H1N1 on the market (yet). The CDC recommendation is to test for H1N1 only in hospitalized patients. Those tests are sent to the state lab and the turn around is SLOW - like a week.
(3) A positive office-based flu test only tells you it's the flu but doesn't distinguish between which type. A negative flu test can be anything including negative.
>>"from everything I've heard throughout my kids childhood, it is not a cold if there is a relatively high fever involved. Sometimes they get low grade, but never high unless there's a secondary infection."<<
Oh how I WISH it were that simple! How high a fever gets doesn't give us a clue on whether or not there's a complication involved. What generally helps is how LONG a fever lasts (greater than 101, not the low-grade stuff). If a child runs a fever >101 for more than 4 days in a row, we bring them in for a re-check to exclude a secondary infection. Otherwise, kid A with a temp of 102 CAN be worse off than kid B with a temp of 104. That's what makes pediatrics so challenging - we have to try and read the kid - not the thermometer. :-)
Thanks Eve! He is doing better, finally, though it was a rough haul. Two days of high fever, then seeming to be on the road to recovery on Monday, only to have his fever go back up Monday evening (though only to 100.5). And of course, DD/10 started coughing Monday morning, followed by fever Monday evening and all day yesterday. She also had tummy troubles, but now seems to be recuperating a lot faster than DS did, thank goodness (hope I didn't just jinx her, LOL). I've also got it, but not as bad as either of them. I've noticed sometimes family bugs get worse with each new "victim" but this one seemed to go the other way around. Although I've got a nagging feeling this cough we all have is going to be one of those annoying ones that lingers for a couple weeks.
I wish I knew whether this was regular or H1N1. They just got their seasonal vaccinations a week ago (a little too late obviously, lol). I haven't decided about H1N1 because it's so new and got approved so fast - just not enough time for any problems to show up, you know? I'm guessing this was probably seasonal because it wasn't too terribly bad, does that sound right? Or have there been really mild cases of H1N1?
