Do they ever test for swine flu now?

[LilyBolero]

I really want to know if I've got swine flu - I've got pretty well all the symptoms, as has ds1, came on really suddenly, coughing, being sick, temperature, feeling exhausted, only able to sleep/sit on sofa.

The reason I really want to know if it's swine flu is because I'm 11 wks pg, and will be offered the vaccination in the next few weeks, and if I've had swine flu I'd rather not have the vaccination, because of risks of untested vaccines, BUT if I haven't had it then I would go with the vaccine because of the risks of SF in pg.

What do you think?

I paid £125 to be tested privately. (It was positive). Apparently in some areas you can have the test on the NHS, just not here - ask your GP

They are only testing "at risk" cases locally. A little boy at our school was swabbed last week for SF (confirmed) as he has asthma and his mum has medical issues that make SF more risky.

If you are admitted to hospital they test you round here. But only then. I thought £125 was a bargain for knowing for sure I'd been infected - given that I'd previously twice been diagnosed with SF.

thanks, that's interesting, I wonder if they would test me then given that I'm pg and therefore in a high risk group.

Maybe, is worth asking. Esp. as symptoms could be something else which is serious in pregnancy (e.g. german measles).

LilyBolero, it's a dilemma isn't it, I had flu when I was about 7 weeks pg, and I'm fairly sure it was swine flu, but have no way of being absolutely sure. I wish I had been aware of the swine flu test available privately. link here.