Flu kits in high demand - KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KSL) – This winter’s flu bug has hit the nation hard, and the season is just peaking.

BioFire Diagnostic, a Salt Lake City, Utah company, is working overtime to make test kits to help doctors diagnose various illnesses. Patient blood and other fluid samples are analyzed by the kits, which can deliver results in under an hour.

“We have a flu test, as well as a gastrointestinal test,” said Meghan Kuehn, senior director of manufacturing operations at BioFire. “We have a meningitis test and a blood culture ID test.”

The flu test kits, which determine if someone has the virus, are priority No. 1 right now. BioFire began making the flu test kits for this season beginning last March in hopes of having enough to ship to clients through the end of the year, but this year’s flu season is just now peaking.

“This January, we’ve seen 60 percent more demand for the flu product than we would in a normal flu season,” Kuehn. “The demand was more severe than we predicted, which is why we’re doing the additional overtime, and that started right after the holidays in January.”