What Is Influenza A?
9. Diagnosis
The flu is a common disease and usually only mild. As such your doctor will often be comfortable enough to make a diagnosis based on your symptoms and a brief physical exam. However, it may be deemed necessary to perform tests to reach a diagnosis in people who are more likely to develop severe complications.
Tests for the flu will often involve polymerase chain reaction testing. This will involve taking a sample of the patient’s blood, and the sample can be used by experts to look for signs of the viruses’ DNA. A negative test does not necessarily mean the virus is not present, and doctors may need to perform other tests to look for the virus, or other diseases.
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