Tulsa Health Department Is Not Testing for H1N1 Virus

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- The Tulsa Health Department says it is not testing for individual cases of the new H1N1 influenza virus.

In a news release Thursday, the Tulsa Health Department says individuals who are sick should not come to the health department to be tested or bring sick children in to be tested for the H1N1 virus.

"We now know that the new influenza virus has spread throughout the state, so testing individuals to determine if the disease is present in the county is no longer necessary," stated Tulsa Health Department Director Gary Cox.

The news release goes on to say the symptoms and treatment for flu are the same, whether one has seasonal flu or the new H1N1 flu, so testing to determine which kind of influenza an individual may have is not necessary, unless the individual has been hospitalized.

Tulsa Health Department officials say physicians' offices can provide rapid flu tests to determine if a person has type A or type B flu.

Since the new H1N1 flu is essentially the only virus circulating right now, it's likely that any person who tests positive for influenza A on the rapid flu test has the H1N1 flu virus.