title: Detection of group A streptococcal antigen directly from throat swabs with a ten-minute latex agglutination test.
abstract: Results obtained with the Culturette brand 10-Minute Group A Strep ID system were compared with culture results to measure the ability of this system to detect group A streptococci directly from more than 800 throat swabs. Our study showed a sensitivity of 92.4% and a specificity of 92.8% for this acid extraction, latex agglutination method when compared with anaerobic culturing for group A streptococci. The results suggest that the 10-Minute Group A Strep ID method may prove to be a useful, very rapid and easy method for diagnosing group A streptococcal pharyngitis directly from throat swabs. Further studies are suggested to determine whether this diagnostic method could stand alone or would have to be used in conjunction with culture.
mesh_terms: D000371:Agglutination; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests; D010614:Pharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial