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The 'I have some sort of lurgy but don't know if it is corona or just a cold' thread

jimbarkanoodle said:
Seems strange there would be an expiry date, its only a bit of liquid in a sealed capsule, and the results aren't neutral, they are negative. So they are still working, just not in the way I expect given how i feel.
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the expiry date was from first approval, a lot of them since got that date extended.
the ones from the gov here in the UKL the liquid just vanished so they became useless anyway unless you had a bunch to put all in
jimbarkanoodle said:
Yeah, just checked, went out of date in January of this year. Will assume I have covid then, tell my boss that, consequently taking tomorrow off work sick, and soak up some rays on the balcony 🫡
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sun therapy?
not gonna ask deep you are going...
 
wemakeyousoundb said:
the expiry date was from first approval, a lot of them since got that date extended.
the ones from the gov here in the UKL the liquid just vanished so they became useless anyway unless you had a bunch to put all in

sun therapy?
not gonna ask deep you are going...
Click to expand...
The tests I have, from about 3 and a half years ago, have the sealed little plastic capsules which contain fuck all liquid, and always have done, even 3 and a half years ago. You squeeze that into the tube thing, then dip your throat/nose brush into it after brushing around for a bit. Close it up, then squeeze the liquid onto the flat thing which gives the test result. I've always had to use 2 of the liquid capsules to get a decent result, and I've had 3 negatives in 3 days now, so frankly I think that these tests being out of date is bollocks and I don't actually have Covid. If they were out of date and ineffective it would just show nothing, bar a splodge of liquid and no activity on the actual bit of plastic that shows the 1 or 2 red bars.

Important to note that soon after the above lateral flow test kits with not enough liquid were distributed, a newer brand/range (with a dark blue box) were released and became standard issue, which had far more liquid in the sealed plastic capsules, which meant you never had to use 2.
 
The white and blue box- an early incarnation with not enough liquid.

Dark blue 'Flowflex' box- a later version that always had enough liquid.

Both give the same results and I highly doubt either are out of date becuase a massive factory in China says so.

1000020353.jpg
 

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I've had a chest infection for some time now, I spoke to the doctor who's prescibed a different antibiotic which was nice of them and I've started but I think the infection is viral:(
 
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We've both recently had COVID. I was first, I was absolutely fine then very suddenly not and tested +ve in the next few hours. Button caught it after a few days, also tested +ve. Our tests were current but we needed more for work etc, they're still available on Amazon.

We first caught it last April. Our symptoms differ from each other but they both follow the symptoms we had last year.
 
I had always been lead to believe that lateral flow tests don't always pick up covid, so you don't always get a positive test. I don't know what brand of covid I have but the lateral flow test detects it just fine and now 6 days later doesn't seem to want to give me a clear !! Grrr ..
 
weltweit said:
I had always been lead to believe that lateral flow tests don't always pick up covid, so you don't always get a positive test. I don't know what brand of covid I have but the lateral flow test detects it just fine and now 6 days later doesn't seem to want to give me a clear !! Grrr ..
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that is it indeed, positive LFT you definitely have covid, negative LFT you don't know for sure.
 
I've been ill for about a week with COVID-like symptoms, and so has my gf. Friends are all testing positive for COVID. Seems to be rife in Leeds. I work from home and we moved house this weekend so have been busy packing, etc, so didn't think I had much need to test - moving house while coughing, and sweating in 27 degree heat was tough!

My girlfriend works in the NHS though so she did a test today and it came back negative.

I went to check the stats just now and can see a small uptick in positive results recorded, but this caught my eye in the other respiritory virus section:

1721648343186.png
I've never heard of RSV tbh, but apparently it's one of the viruses that cause the "common cold". Look at that jump in London, though. Surely that can't be right?

This chart is from the main page of the government testing site. If you go to the RSV specific page, it looks very different:

1721648485394.png
Obviously this is a national picture, compared to the regional breakdown in the first chart, but as London is around 12-13% of the UK population, surely there would be a bump visible on the national picture? In fact, the tabular data shows a decrease compared to the previous recording period.

Is this a mistake? Is this COVID wave really RSV? Or is the RSV data really COVID? Any other explanation?

Data is from here:

UKHSA data dashboard

Overall summary of the respiratory viruses in circulation within the UK
ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) | UKHSA data dashboard

ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk
 
Fez909 said:
Is this a mistake? Is this COVID wave really RSV? Or is the RSV data really COVID? Any other explanation?
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I'll look into that RSV data shortly, but I can absolutely say that there is a covid wave, so discount questions like 'is this covid wave really x?'. Waves of both are also possible. And which diseases are in the middle of a wave are an incomplete guide as to what a particular individual may be suffering from.

RSV usually gets in the news because of its propensity to cause quite large numbers of hospital admissions of young children if there is a very big wave of RSV. And that certainly happened after pandemic controls were lifted some years ago, placing strain on hospitals and getting in the news.
 
Fez909 said:
Is this a mistake?
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OK I have an answer for you in regards that London data.

Thing to keep in mind is what sort of data that is, its percentage of RSV tests that came back positive, and we dont know how many tests were taken during that period of time.

So I did some digging and found the same spike in the most recent weeks covid & flu report, but there is a note at the bottom of the page: "*Changes in positivity in London should be interpreted with caution as there was a low number of samples this week and is subject to retrospective updates"

Thats from page 11 of https://assets.publishing.service.g..._Flu_and_COVID-19_Surveillance_Graphs_w29.pdf

Which comes from National flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports: 2024 to 2025 season
 
elbows said:
OK I have an answer for you in regards that London data.

Thing to keep in mind is what sort of data that is, its percentage of RSV tests that came back positive, and we dont know how many tests were taken for that period of time.

So I did some digging and found the same spike in the most recent weeks covid & flu report, but there is a note at the bottom of the page: "*Changes in positivity in London should be interpreted with caution as there was a low number of samples this week and is subject to retrospective updates"

Thats from page 11 of https://assets.publishing.service.g..._Flu_and_COVID-19_Surveillance_Graphs_w29.pdf

Which comes from National flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports: 2024 to 2025 season
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Thanks for clearing this up. I thought that there must be something unusual going on. So, it's something like this (simplified)?:

Chart 1: 10000 tests nationally. 100 were in London, and 15% in London were positive = big London spike, based on only 15 positive results.

Chart 2: 10000 tests nationally. ~1% were positive = no spike nationally.
 
Both Mrs Numbers and I have caught something, she started feeling unwell Friday night and me last night. We were at a wedding on Monday with 100+ people. Have no covie tests to check if it's that.
 
I've been a little unwell with something for the best part of last week - headache, sinus pain, TGN flare-up, bunged up, achy.
N has also been a bit wheezy and using a reliever inhaler more than usual.
Not too major though -I mean it could be anything tbh.
I do typically tend to get ill with some upper respiratory thing this time of year (I dunno whether hayfever all early summer just makes my nasal passages and throat a bit more susceptible).
 
Feeling a bit off the past few days. Bunged up nose. Sneezing. Bit of a cough.
Tested myself on Tuesday...no covid.
Tested myself today...no covid.
I've not been near anyone let alone anyone who is sick.
I've not had hay fever since starting immunosuppression meds 20 years ago.

Perplexed and snotty nosed... grrr
 
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Aladdin said:
Feeling a bit off the past few days. Bunged up nose. Sneezing. Bit of a cough.
Tested myself on Tuesday...no covid.
Tested myself today...no covid.
I've not been near anyone let alone anyone who I'd sick.
I've not had hay fever since starting immunosuppression meds 20 years ago.

Perplexed and snotty nosed... grrr
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GWS X X
 
Yeah these tests expired last year but it came up as positive and they've been kept in a dark cupboard all this time. First time that's ever happened
 
Puddy_Tat said:
i've felt kinda crap the last week or so - headaches, generally knackered, assorted aches and pains. started sneezing and sniffling today.

blargh.
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hmm

decided to do a covid test, all clear.

i'm due for a (rare) day at the office towards the end of the week. might test again before i go.
 
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