When should a nasal swab test be sent to CDC?
Testing is not indicated for patients with mild illness. Patients presenting to providers participating in the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILI Net) who meet the case definition of influenza-like illness (ILI) will be tested. However, if the patient with a suspected, probable or confirmed case of swine flu is severely ill or at high risk of complications (see below) clinicians should obtain an upper respiratory specimen, such as a nasopharyngeal swab or wash, or nasal wash/aspirate, or tracheal aspirate. Specimens should be submitted to your state’s public health laboratory. Interim guidance on specimen collection ,processing, and testing for patients with suspected swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus infection can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/specimencollection.
