2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the Spanish Flu (H1N1) pandemic. CDC statistics from the 1918 pandemic show that approximately 500 million people worldwide were infected. That was one-third of [...]
By now, physicians may have an idea of what’s to come this flu season, based on how the flu season has already played out in other parts of the [...]
The flu. Patients don’t want to think about it and, this time of year, neither do physicians, especially after the 2017-2018 “perfect storm” of a [...]
The use of Point of Care Testing (POCT) in hospitals is on the rise across Europe. In particular Emergency Departments (EDs) are adopting flu rapid [...]
If you’re like many physicians and Point of Care (POC) laboratories, you may be dealing with suboptimal performance from some of your current diagnostic methods. For example, conventional Rapid Influenza Diagnostics Tests (RIDTs) vary in terms of sensitivity and specificity whenRapid Influenza Diagnostics Tests (RIDTs) vary in terms of sensitivity and specificity when compared with viral culture or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). compared with viral culture or reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Product insert information and research publications indicate that in general, RIDTs sensitivities are approximately 50-70%.
