# 292
Indonesian officials are reporting that 5 suspected bird flu patients now hospitalized have tested negative for the H5N1 virus. These patients are receiving Tamiflu and are apparently still in isolation, and will remain there pending the results of an additional test.
This sounds like good news, and hopefully it is.
Not to rain on their parade, but testing for the H5N1 bird flu virus has been plagued with false negatives from the beginning, and time and time again we find out that `negative’ patients were, in fact, positive.
The latest case from China, recently released from the hospital `fully recovered’, was reportedly only diagnosed when additional tests were pulled roughly 30 days after the infection set in. The original testing, reportedly, was negative.
In Thailand last fall, one patient had to be tested 9 times before a positive result was obtained, and it was only during his autopsy that the H5N1 virus was discovered to have caused his death.
Often, the administration of Tamiflu to combat the infection masks the virus, making detection very difficult. There are also concerns that, as the virus mutates, or changes, it becomes harder to detect. And the truth of the matter is that medical tests often provide false-negatives, and less often, false-positive results. This is true for tests other than those looking for the H5N1 virus.
Medical tests are generally very good, but they are not infallible.
While the circumstances of these five patients would lead one to suspect avian flu infection, all having been in close contact with the 14 year-old boy who died yesterday and showing flu-like symptoms, this is regular flu season, so it is conceivable they are suffering from seasonal influenza or something else entirely.
Authorities in Indonesia would like nothing better than to see these patients turn out to be negative.
Frankly, so would I.
