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Table 2 Studies conducted comparing mouth and throat cultures

From: Oral cavity swabbing for diagnosis of group a Streptococcus: a prospective study

Research and year of publication

Population studied

Sample size

Site of detection

Method of detection

Sensitivity

Reference standard

Brien et al. 1985

Children

12

9 different areas in the oral cavity

Cultures were inoculated on DSBA. Plates were incubated for 18–24 h at 37 °C in 10% CO2.

No sensitivity, specificity calculations.

63% of cultures from unacceptable sites showed some growth.

Tonsils and posterior pharyngeal wall

Gunn et al. 1985

children

20

7 different areas in the oral cavity

Cultures were inoculated on DBSA and on DBSA-SXT. Plates were incubated for 18–24 h at 35 °C in 5% CO2 in air.

No sensitivity, specificity calculations.

Recovery of GAS from optimal vs. unsatisfactory sites were 53% vs. 24 and 75% vs. 42% on DBSA and DBSA-SXT respectively.

Tonsils, posterior pharynx and posterior tongue.

Fox et al. 2006

children

53

2 swabs (double swab collection)

**throat swab (posterior pharynx and tonsils)

**mouth swab (tongue and buccal mucosa)

**RADT (Abbott Signify Rapid Strep A test)

**a DNA probe (a nucleic acid probe test) after 24 h **inoculation on DSBA-SXT (Becton Dickinson) in 5% CO2 at 35 °C for 48 h.

RADT –

19.4% (7.5–37.5%)

DNA probe –

41.9% (23.9–60.9%)

Culture (48 h) –

80.6% (62.5–92.5%)

positive culture or DNA probe of posterior pharynx/tonsils

Kelly L 2007

Children and adults

64

2 swabs

**throat swab (posterior pharynx and tonsils)

**buccal mucosa

Both swabs were tested using RADT (The SureStep Strep A (II) Test by Applied Biotech)

Sensitivity of mouth culture was 5.6%.

RADT from optimal sites.

  1. DSBA 5% defibrinated sheep blood agar, DSBA-SXT 5% defibrinated sheep blood agar supplemented with sulfamethoxazole and trimetophrim, RADT rapid antigen detection test