Influenza Testing at Our Dearborn Center
Influenza tests check for the presence of the flu virus in respiratory secretions. Our healthcare providers at Urgent Care Services Dearborn perform these tests onsite.
What are tests for the flu?
The flu is a respiratory infection caused by the influenza virus. The most common time for flu infections to prevail is in the winter, although they can also occur at other times of the year.
Droplet infection is the most common means of spreading the disease, and coughing, sneezing, or touching surfaces with contaminated hands are easy ways for droplets to become airborne.
Most seasonal flu outbreaks are caused by type A or type B flu viruses.
The most common tests that help in the diagnosis of flu are:
- ○ Rapid influenza diagnostic tests ( RIDTs)
- ○ Rapid molecular assays
- ○ Specialized laboratory tests
Dearborn Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Tests
RIDTs, also known as flu antigen tests, are the most common type of flu test. As evident from the name, they are rapid tests providing results within 10-15 minutes, but they may not be as accurate as other flu tests.
RIDTs are based on detecting the parts of flu virus antigens that induce an immune response in the body. Both type A and type B influenza can be detected by RIDTs. A nasal swab is taken by one of our expert professionals in Urgent Care Dearborn, and the sample is sent for antigen detection. Even if your rapid test results are negative, you could still have the flu.
Rapid molecular assays for flu testing
Rapid molecular assays detect the genetic material of the flu virus. They produce results within 15 to 30 minutes and are more accurate than RIDTs.
Our healthcare providers take the nasopharyngeal swab and send the sample to the laboratory for analysis. This test is usually performed on symptomatic patients, either admitted to the hospital or visiting our center.
Specialized laboratory tests for flu
These are the most accurate of all the other types of flu tests. One of these tests is reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
Again, our health care provider in our Dearborn center collects the nasal swab sample and sends it to the laboratory for testing.
The results of this test could take several hours or days.
When should I get my flu tests done?
Most people get infected by the influenza virus, but they recover from it within a week.
In that case, when you are not having severe symptoms and you are otherwise a healthy individual, there is no need to get a flu test.
But if you are having the following symptoms, talk to your healthcare provider.
- ○ Sudden onset of moderate to high-grade fever
- ○ Headache
- ○ Chills
- ○ Sore throat
- ○ Fatigue
- ○ Runny nose
- ○ Severe body aches (fatigue)
- ○ Loss of appetite
Or even with mild symptoms, you may need a flu test if you are having:
- ○ Chronic illness
- ○ Pregnancy
- ○ Compromised immune system
- ○ Extremes of age: under the age of 5 or over 65
- ○ Those admitted to the hospital for any other illness
- ○ To rule out outbreaks in a close community( school, nursing home)
We at the Dearborn Center have professional services to provide you with convenient and accessible influenza testing. Our goal is to bring reliable testing to the Dearborn community, as early testing can help in early diagnosis and the start of treatment.