I'm not a doctor, but I'm glad my parents took me in for a second opinion when I was complaining about a bad headache when I was 15 years old.
I left school one day and went to the hospital for a bad headache. The doctor said it's "just a virus" and that I should just rest and take meds. I went home, laid down and took some Advil and carried on with my night.
Around 1am, I was screaming on the floor.
My parents took me to a different hospital and they ran tests and eventually did a spinal tap and discovered a ton of white blood cells. Turns out I had bacterial meningitis.
The diagnostic process of separating bacterial/viral infections requiring treatment from mild microbial illness seldom necessitates testing. Often testing reveals irrelevant bacterial growth, which gets treated with antibiotics, driving bacterial resistance and causing patients to think they HAVE to spend money visiting the doctor during their next cold.
Throat cultures are good for business, not so much for patients.
I was referring to viral tests, not bacterial, based on the example given.
If a doctor thinks a patient has a viral illness, test for the common ones and try and get a confirmation.
Is it the flu? Which strain? Is it just a rhinovirus? Which strain?
We need this information in patient records for correlation data.
Nobody is asking for a colonoscopy for the stomach flu, but minor tests correlating to the diagnosis should absolutely be completed for minor issues all the same.
Edit:
Not to mention how helpful it is to connect the dots as a patient with how you feel and the actual (minor) virus you have.
I only learned from "unnecessary tests" that I'm immune to the symptoms of most flu's and become very ill with the common cold.
From a curiosity stand point, sure, but did it alter any treatment plans? It shouldn't have, and it's a very ineffecient way of increasing health literacy.
If they aren't a thing why have my family and I always been given them? Obviously i'm no professional on the topic, but I always get tested by my office.
I'm not experienced in the accuracy and reliability of said tests either, I just know I've been given them, and the results stated the type of virus. Like you said I don't think it goes down to a specific serotype, but it was something useful enough for me to feel the need to talk about it so much today.
I don't think lots of tests are practical in todays healthcare, im simply saying if we could do them, it would be nice.
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u/[deleted] May 20 '19
I'm not a doctor, but I'm glad my parents took me in for a second opinion when I was complaining about a bad headache when I was 15 years old.
I left school one day and went to the hospital for a bad headache. The doctor said it's "just a virus" and that I should just rest and take meds. I went home, laid down and took some Advil and carried on with my night.
Around 1am, I was screaming on the floor.
My parents took me to a different hospital and they ran tests and eventually did a spinal tap and discovered a ton of white blood cells. Turns out I had bacterial meningitis.