Pharmacies will not be able to perform tests on the 1st January 2020 to find out if angina is viral or bacterial. The implementing decrees are not ready
You will still have to wait a bit to find out if your angina is viral or bacterial. The free tests to detect the nature of the virus were to be made freely available in pharmacies as of the 1st January 2020.
However, the implementing decrees issued by the General Directorate of Health have not been completed.
Health Insurance “informed us in December that the regulatory texts would not be ready on time, and that it would rather be done in the spring,” assured AFP Philippe Besset, the president of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France. (FSPF), reports BFMTV.
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Fast and effective
Called Rapid Diagnostic Orientation Test (TROD), it should avoid the prescription of antibiotics in the case of a virus.
To perform this test, it only takes a few minutes. The pharmacist uses a cotton swab to take a sample from the patient’s throat. It is then placed in reactive liquids. In just a few minutes, the professional can confirm whether it is bacterial or viral angina.
In the first case, he will refer the person to a general practitioner for antibiotic treatment. But, if it is a virus, antibiotics are useless and symptoms will have to be treated directly.
Questioned by our colleagues at France Info , Thierry Naas, bacteriologist, this test is necessary:
“It will make it possible to significantly limit the use of antibiotics (…) This is better therapeutic management for the patient. “
It remains to know the terms of prescription such as for example the age from which children will be eligible.
