4 LFTs - 2 positive, 2 negative - chance of positive PCR?

[Awcw1234]

As above,

Tested 4 times since last night. Two came back negative but not straight away. How common are false positives on lateral flows?

I’ve been for a PCR this morning x

.

@Orchid876

They definitely are typical Covid symptoms, especially in vaccinated adults and children. The classic three are no longer typical and for the government to have not updated the symptom list is negligence. When most of my DDs class at school got Covid, for those that had symptoms, a headache was the common symptom in all of them.

Well, fingers crossed it isn’t. Really don’t want Christmas to be cancelled 😬

Fingers crossed it's not, it does suck, it'll be happen to lots of people at the moment unfortunately.

@Awcw1234

Sorry to hear that Orchid. These were my tests. Really hoping for a negative PCR 😬

They're both clear positives I'm afraid. @neverdidnt is right, the chances of getting a false positive LFT are very low and two positive LFTs are highly accurate. The two negative ones will be because at that point you didn't have enough antigen protein in the sample to trigger a positive result. That most likely means you're either at the start or end of your most infectious period. The good thing about LFTs is, they're very good at detecting the time when you're most infectious. They're less sensitive if you're right at the start of an infection, or are over the infectious part. Here's an article about how LFTs are 95% accurate in the first week of infection. If your PCR test comes back negative after 2 positive LFTs, personally (based on the research) I'd trust the LFTs and get a repeat PCR, as in that case it's more likely that you're in the 2-5% of cases that PCR doesn't pick up.

I know of 2 who have had positive
Lateral
Flows and then negative PCR. They are very unreliable. Fingers crossed you are negative.

I'm currently waiting for son's PCR RESULTS who tested positive on lateral flow,
Praying it's a false. Please keep us updated

Sorry I think you've got covid

What brand were the + LFTs and how strong was the T line?

It's all very well people saying it's only a 1/2000 chance of a false positive. But that's not true at all.

Every single FlowFlex brand LFT I take is positive. Has been for months. And having found many threads on here with people experiencing similar it's definitely not a 0.005% false positive rate.

So if you're + LFTs are FlowFlex then your PCRs could well be negative.

Just seen your photos.

That's the strength of line I get on FlowFlex tests every time.

Yet any other LFT and all PCRs negative. So you may not have it.

My DD gets regular positives on the flowflex too. Had PCRs every time- always negative.

Fingers crossed for you!

Yes they are FlowFlex!

@JulieGoods

Just seen your photos.

That's the strength of line I get on FlowFlex tests every time.

Yet any other LFT and all PCRs negative. So you may not have it.

Had the same issue, I get a positive on every flowflex too that looks like yours if I do it early in the morning. I've reported it via the yellow card scheme and I've had several negative PCRs. I phoned track and trace and they said they're aware of an issue with false positives on flowflex, so I've got my fingers crossed for you!

I had 4 positive lateral flows. Then 2 unreadable pcrs and 2 negative pcrs. The whole thing was bizarre but I'm convinced I did have it. Here's my positive lft

My son gets these lines on flowflex everytime, but not on orient gene or innova. 4 negative pcrs. It does happen, no idea why still, although read that some types of auto antibodies found in diseases such as lupus, ms, and other things can cause false positives in immunoassays using colloidal gold strips. There are many tests wuth similar technology used for the detection of other diseases and false positives have been well documented with these.

@Awcw1234 have you had results yet?
I'm waiting for mine after having same as you

[quote loosinggame]@Awcw1234 have you had results yet?
I'm waiting for mine after having same as you[/quote]
No. Almost 26 hours now since testing…

Really interesting about Flowflex tests. All the research on accuracy of uk LFTs seems to be based on the Innova test, so we can't extrapolate that to other tests. Thanks for the heads up.

@onewayandday

I know of 2 who have had positive Lateral Flows and then negative PCR. They are very unreliable. Fingers crossed you are negative.

I'm currently waiting for son's PCR RESULTS who tested positive on lateral flow,
Praying it's a false. Please keep us updated

Have you had your results yet?

It has been almost 32 hours now since I had my PCR and I still haven’t heard anything 😔

How are you feeling OP?

Absolutely fine today! Headache and fatigue has gone. Just feeling very frustrated now as I’ve missed two days of work and will potentially miss tomorrow at work too if my results don’t come back. Tested at 9am yesterday so didn’t expect to be waiting so long. My boss isn’t going to be too impressed if my PCR ends up coming back negative 🙈

Dd and I have had very definite positive results on lft today. I was negative Tuesday so really hoping it is just a meds reaction as have started some new asthma meds this week. Dd is on a therapeutic dose of methotrexate so wondering if that could cause a positive. Both been for pcrs this morning and awaiting results.

Gov website says isolation clock starts from onset of symptoms, for dd that was last weekend but we had out it down to end of term fatigue and Wednesday for me so we should both be OK to go out Xmas day but am gutted that plans this week can't happen.

Hope yours is negative op

Curious to know how this pans out. Still no results?

Nope! 48 hours now since I tested! Today I’ll be missing my 3rd day of work. If it comes back negative, I’m going to be very reluctant to use any lateral flow test again. Can you tell I’m fed up? 😂

I think your boss should be more worried about people with positive lateral flows coming into work! You did the right thing. My son had a positive lateral flow, took another one immediately and was negative, PCR came back positive. And completely anecdotal but our drive through test results came back in under 24 hours, our walk in test results from earlier in the week took 1.5-2.5 days ( his was inconclusive on Wednesday, positive on Friday)

@Awcw1234 sorry you’re still waiting and in limbo. You’re doing the right thing so your boss will just need to deal with it.

@endingintiers I had 3 PCRs this month at drive through centres and both have been less than 24 hours for the results. I don’t know if it’s true but I read it on another thread - it said if you get a positive LFT and do another one very soon after, there may not be enough Covid cells left to swab for the test to pick it up. The person said it’s worth waiting a few hours before doing another LFT.

[quote Winterlove]@Awcw1234 sorry you’re still waiting and in limbo. You’re doing the right thing so your boss will just need to deal with it.

@endingintiers I had 3 PCRs this month at drive through centres and both have been less than 24 hours for the results. I don’t know if it’s true but I read it on another thread - it said if you get a positive LFT and do another one very soon after, there may not be enough Covid cells left to swab for the test to pick it up. The person said it’s worth waiting a few hours before doing another LFT.[/quote]
Yes I read that too which made me worry as I did my PCR literally 1-2 hours after my lateral flow 🙈