Abu Dhabi: The H1N1 test is available in two hospitals in Abu Dhabi but is time consuming and expensive, Gulf News has learned.

The test known as RT-PCR, is taken with a nasal swab. Dr Ravi Arora, Specialist Internist, Advanced Life Support Instructor at the NMC Specialty Hospital, said, "The rapid influenza test has a sensitivity of detection ranging from 10 to 70 per cent, meaning that the test may be false negative in about 30 per cent of the patients, even if the individual has the virus. This could be due to a varying viral load among particular patients' nasal secretions and/or the sensitivity of the detection kit itself."

As per the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) guidelines issued since late August 2009, any patient with an influenza-like illness, whether mild, moderate or severe can be prescribed oral Tamilfu (Oseltamivir) pending confirmation.

"If babies as young as two or three years old are diagnosed with ILI, they cannot take the Tamiflu tablet and the related syrup is not available, so in situations like that private hospitals refer each individual case to public hospitals, who usually end up crushing the tablet and giving it to the child," Mohammad Hamad, an infection control officer at Lifeline Hospital told Gulf News.

Both doctors confirm that most of the infections detected are mild and might recover even without Tamiflu.

"There are a few high risk groups where the complication rates are higher, and those are prime candidates for Tamiflu, and they are mostly among people with co-morbid medical illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, cancer; less than five or more than 65 years; obese people and pregnant ladies," said Arora.

Most patients across private hospitals are treated as out-patients. "I've had to transfer two patients in the last two months to a public hospital for severe pneumonia and multi-organ failure as renal dialysis services are not available in the private sector," Arora said.

Dr Wissam Deeb, Medical Director at Gulf Diagnostic Center Hospital told Gulf News that the HAAD initially informed all private hospitals across Abu Dhabi to send H1N1 suspected cases to a public hospital, however the hospital did not accept all patients, mostly only severe cases.

Circular

A new circular sent to hospitals by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) has split cases into three groups depending on the symptoms

 Mild:

Given anti-viral and sent home for seven days

Moderate:

Treated same as mild unless high risk (i.e. under five years or over 65 years or has underlining medical conditions) follow up with phone calls or home visits

Severe:

To send to either the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi or Tawam Hospital in Al Ain.

All type A results notified to HAAD no system for reporting ffinal results back to private hospitals.