According to pharmacist Thomas Olyslager, such self-tests are no longer absolutely necessary. “I think people are particularly more aware of infections now. Good hand hygiene when you’re sick and trying to avoid contact, that’s at least as important,” he told “The World Today” on Radio 1 yesterday. While such self-tests could be helpful in curbing demand for unnecessary antibiotics, he thinks. “Some people say: I’m sick, give me an antibiotic. But with a viral infection, an antibiotic is of little or no use.”
And the pharmacists themselves? Don’t they make money off those self-tests? “This demand is very limited right now,” Olyslager explains. “That revenue model isn’t great.”
