title: "I was pretty sure I had the 'flu": qualitative description of confirmed-influenza symptoms.
abstract: Influenza is a common infectious disease, yet its diagnosis is rarely confirmed, rather is presumed in the presence of non-specific clinical symptoms. Public health organisations enlist the lay person in the diagnostic process, as infection containment initiatives focus on encouraging individuals with influenza-like illness to stay at home, seeking medical attention only in the presence of complications. While lay self-diagnosis of influenza has been confirmed to be neither specific nor sensitive, little is known about how people with confirmed-influenza infection describe their illness. In this article we report the descriptions of influenza by 21 individuals with rapid antigen test-kit confirmation of influenza A or B and we discuss their recommendations for management of future influenza infection. Semi-structured interviews reveal that the variability in symptoms and severity of disease makes a standard description of influenza elusive. Almost all participants had a cough, sweats, runny nose and muscle aches, but the prominence of these symptoms varied significantly between participants. Most participants were preoccupied with diagnostic certainty, and would seek medical attention in a future similar illness episode. This study underlined a conditioned recourse to medical authority for confirmation of diagnosis which challenges current public health strategies and should be further explored in order to determine its wider impact.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. Electronic address: annemarie.jutel@vuw.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jutel
authors.affiliation: University of Victoria, Canada. Electronic address: ebaniste@uvic.ca.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Banister
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D059026:Diagnostic Self Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D036301:Qualitative Research; D063189:Symptom Assessment; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Diagnosis; Influenza; New Zealand; Self-diagnosis