Faulty box of tests?

[Lottie4]

Last Friday I had a faint positive on LFT. Had another box of tests so did another and that was negative.

Next day faint positive on LFT (suspect box) so did another LFT from DH's box and that was negative.

Continued testing, expecting a darker line, which hasn't happened, but all tests in box have shown a faint line. Since Monday I've had a slight sore throat, irritated nose and odd sneezing fit which feels like mild hayfever to me. Due to symptoms, asked a friend to buy a test (nose only one this time) and that was negative.

Any thoughts on if the box of tests was faulty?

I did have covid early February, but tested negative on days 13&14 and since on twice weekly tests.

we had a box of faulty tests but it was very obvious as the line to show the test did not appear- did that line also appear on your tests?

Your symptoms do sound like the covid my DS currently has

Yes, the faint line is on the T section. It looks like my first positive when I had covid in February. Symptoms are totally different this time and much milder though.

Didn't want to get a PCR as we're meant to be going away and I didn't want to risk not getting my covid pass back at the end of day 10. Have been distancing/wearing a mask if DH comes near but I'm a little nervous he's still to go down with it himself.

We're the boxes different brands, some are meant to be more sensitive than others. If this is your second infection it's very likely you just got a mild dose, hence the faint lines. If you suspect they're always showing positive you could try just dropping the fluid in without taking a sample.

It sounds like you have a mild infection which your body is fighting off, and it's only showing up on a more sensitive test. It's best to swab your throat as well as your nose, you're more likely to pick up the virus that way.

I’d say it’s positive. I was negative, like stark white on a flow flex at 8pm and at 7am was really dark on a throat and nose swab one. Symptoms were a scratchy throat and a manly voice at that time.

Thanks for your replies. The test my friend got me was a nose only test. All the others, including the two I took out of different boxes which were negative, were nose and throat tests.

@Lottie4

Yes, the faint line is on the T section. It looks like my first positive when I had covid in February. Symptoms are totally different this time and much milder though.

Didn't want to get a PCR as we're meant to be going away and I didn't want to risk not getting my covid pass back at the end of day 10. Have been distancing/wearing a mask if DH comes near but I'm a little nervous he's still to go down with it himself.

Those were my initial symptoms. You can't get a PCR anymore but my LFTs didn't turn positive until after my positive PCR.

Did you get your partner (or someone else) to test on the batch that you think is faulty? If they get a negative result then that will give you an answer.

I had this last month. Very faint but no denying it was there line - but only on one brand of LFT. (Nasal)
Test taken from 2 different brands (nasal & nasal + throat) were all negative on the same days. Mild cold symptoms, nothing other than a few sniffles and sneezes.
Still don’t really know whether I had it or not. Treated it as though I didn’t!

@Senso21

I had this last month. Very faint but no denying it was there line - but only on one brand of LFT. (Nasal) Test taken from 2 different brands (nasal & nasal + throat) were all negative on the same days. Mild cold symptoms, nothing other than a few sniffles and sneezes. Still don’t really know whether I had it or not. Treated it as though I didn’t!

Were they flowflex? Forgot to say in my last comment DS gets a faint grey line on those sometimes, I've taken to ignoring it unless there's some red ( or better still using a different brand!)

No they were the ones that give a really dark purple line. ‘Sure’ something I think they are called

I've currently got the same thing on SureScreen (nasal only): two tests that developed incredibly faint lines after a while, and one (taken about an hour later) that did not.

Two tests from the NHS own brand (nasal/throat) are negative, and one from FlowFlex (nasal only) is also negative.

I took six tests as I'm travelling soon and need to pass a PCR test. Once I started getting different results I kept on testing to try to figure out what's going on. But I'm assuming it's going to be bad news and that my PCR will be positive (I took the test a few hours ago).