Pathogen diagnostic test

A method of detecting an influenza infection in an individual, the method comprising:

• (a) providing a sample, wherein said sample comprises a biological sample from said individual and an influenza synthetic RNA, wherein a nucleic acid sequence of said influenza synthetic RNA differs from a naturally occurring influenza nucleic acid sequence;
• (b) lysing said sample, thereby producing a lysed sample;
• (c) performing a reverse transcription reaction on said lysed sample to obtain a lysed, reverse transcribed sample, wherein RNA from said lysed sample is not purified before performing said reverse transcription reaction;
• (d) performing an amplification reaction on said lysed, reverse transcribed sample to obtain an amplified biological sample, wherein said amplification reaction on said lysed, reverse transcribed sample is performed with a set of influenza primers specific for an influenza nucleic acid sequence, wherein said set of influenza primers amplify said influenza nucleic acid sequence and said influenza synthetic RNA;
• and
• (e) sequencing said amplified sample.