Suitability of throat culture procedures for detection of group A streptococci and as reference standards for evaluation of streptococcal antigen detection kits

Role of the Microbiology Laboratory in Diagnosis and Management of Pharyngitis

“…Culture. Kellogg wrote an excellent article summarizing the multiple variables, which are inherent in the performance of a culture for GAS (29). The three main culture variables identified by Kellogg were medium, atmosphere of incubation, and duration of incubation.…”

“…Medium and atmosphere of incubation cannot be independently discussed in a meaningful way because of the interrelationship of these two factors. Kellogg recommended four combinations for throat specimens: (i) sheep blood agar incubated anaerobically, (ii) sheep blood agar incubated aerobically with a coverslip over the primary area of inoculation, (iii) sheep blood agar with trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole incubated either in 5 to 10% CO 2 , or (iv) the same medium incubated anaerobically (29). Kellogg further recommended that the use of sheep blood agar incubated in 5 to 10% CO 2 be strictly avoided.…”

A scoring system for management of acute pharyngo-tonsillitis in adults

“…Determinations of infections due to S. pyogenes have been an important issue for studying acute pharyngotonsillitis [2,14,17,22]. Several clinical findings have the discriminative value in distinguishing S. pyogenes from other causes of acute pharyngo-tonsillitis.…”

A novel real-time PCR assay panel for detection of common respiratory pathogens in a convenient, strip-tube array format

“…Traditionally, the laboratory diagnosis of respiratory infections has been a lengthy procedure, using bacterial and viral culture or relatively insensitive techniques such as immunofluorescence (IFA) and rapid enzyme immune assays (EIA) (Lode, 2007;Bartlett, 2011;Kellogg, 1990;Tenover, 2011;Chartrand et al, 2012;Chartrand et al, 2015;Blasi, 2004). These test modalities can identify a limited number of organisms such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and parainfluenza viruses, and bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae.…”