It’s a familiar feeling. The scratch in the throat, the slight congestion, aches in your joints.
Maybe you’re just tired, you think to yourself. Maybe it’s allergies. Or, maybe, a it’s virus or maybe you’ve caught the flu.
A relatively new response to those symptoms might be to reach for an at-home rapid antigen tests (RATs) for influenza, COVID-19 and other respiratory infections.
But is it worth taking a test in the hope of finding out exactly what virus you have?
Should you take a RAT?
David Muscatello, an associate professor in infectious diseases epidemiology at UNSW’s School of Population Health, said it’s worth noting RATs can be useful — if you can afford them — but the technology isn’t foolproof.
“If it’s positive, you can be more confident about what you’ve got,” he said.
“But there are many other infections that can also make people very unwell that aren’t on those rapid tests.
“If the test is negative, you still may have the infection.”
Dr Muscatello said finding out what you have probably doesn’t change what should happen next.
He said the wisest course of action echoes longstanding public health advice and includes staying home while symptomatic to avoid a potential spread of whatever it is you’ve got.
“You really need to be guided by the symptoms you have,”
Dr Muscatello said.
It also includes getting vaccinated — a point particularly relevant now as Australia creeps towards its next flu season.
Vaccination best step forward for this flu season
Despite recent years seeing rates trend downwards nationally, the best response to protect yourself from influenza remains vaccination.
“In terms of prevention for influenza, it’s all about the vaccine,” said Dominic Dwyer, a professor of virology at the University of Sydney.
The current recommended time for that vaccination, according to the Department of Health and Aged Care, is around April, with immunity at its strongest within the first four months — in theory covering the peak flu season of June to September.
The primary reason is self-protection.
Influenza symptoms can range from mild discomfort to severe harms and potential complications.
According to provisional data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, influenza was the underlying cause of 784 deaths across the country in 2024.
While the effectiveness of an influenza vaccine typically ranges between 40 to 60 per cent, receiving one each year reduces this risk of serious illness, particularly as antibodies become less abundant and useful as the virus evolves and adapts to evade them.
“We have to make a new vaccine each year with the strains that we know to be circulating recently,”
Professor Dwyer said.
Vaccination also offers public health benefits, particularly for those at higher risk of harm like the immunocompromised, by reducing the length and severity of an infection, shortening the chance of spreading the virus.
“Vaccination is our number one defence, in terms of being a community,” said Charlotte Hespe, a professor of general practice and primary care research at University of Notre Dame.
The role of masks and handwashing
While vaccination is the most effective tool against the flu, other acts reduce the risk of contracting and spreading the disease, alongside other similar infections.
Last year, 42,668 cases of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) were recorded in New South Wales, while COVID remains a waning, but persistent, presence.
“It’s important to know that the influenza virus, along with RSV, para-influenza, and COVID, are what we call ‘droplet-spread viruses’,”
Professor Hespe said.
Those other acts include taking antivirals when needed, to embracing barriers that limit the transmission of those droplets: wearing masks in confined environments like public transport, washing your hands, alongside covering coughs or sneezes with your elbow.
“Each time you do the coughing and sneezing, those fluids are actually then potentially spreading to somebody else,” Professor Hespe said.
“Hence, all of the advice that we can do in that is try and keep those to yourself.”
By Sam Nichols
