Department of Public Health medical director Dr. Richard Brostrom said yesterday that the samples may be sent back to Saipan in the next two weeks.
He said last week, they sent the latest batch of samples to Texas for testing.
He said the delay in returning of test results is not a unique problem.
“The upsurge of H1N1 cases in several states from June to August caused a backlog of results in the laboratories,” Brostrom said.
With the delay in getting the test results, the doctors are left on their own to provide medication to their patients, he added.
“Usually, when the results come in, the patients are already well and out of the hospital,” he said.
In the CNMI, he added, 10 to 20 percent of the population may have caught the H1N1 virus but have resorted to self-medication and have treated it as a seasonal flu.
Brostrom said only a very few countries have available facilities that provide quick testing results.
“In the United States, results will not be readily available as H1N1 test is high level genetic test that is not easy to perform.
“We hope that by next year, a rapid test for H1N1 would be developed and a rapid test could be conducted quickly,” Brostrom said.
With the opening of classes at public schools last Tuesday, the Department of Public Health is “ready to respond to an upsurge of possible H1N1 cases,” he added.
“But we are once again calling on our parents not to send sick children to school so as not to spread the virus.”
