Investigation of the Prevalence of Group A Beta-haemolytic Streptococcus and Efficiency of Streptococcus Rapid Antigen Test in Patients Prediagnosed with Acute Tonsillopharyngitis in a University Hospital
Journal Title: Mediterranean Journal of Infection, Microbes and Antimicrobials - Year 2019, Vol 8, Issue 1
Abstract
Introduction: Acute tonsillopharyngitis is the most important infectious cause of hospital admission in pediatric age groups. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of group A beta-hemolytic streptococci in patients prediagnosed with acute tonsillopharyngitis in a university hospital in Northern Cyprus and determine the effectiveness of Streptococcus rapid antigen test (SRAT) in diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Patients with acute tonsillopharyngitis prediagnosis and admitted to our hospital between September 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017 were retrospectively screened from physical and electronic records. Patients with a throat culture and/or SRAT result were included in the study. Culture method was used as the golden standard. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 13.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) programme and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The study group included 1,023 patients with acute tonsillopharyngitis prediagnosis and throat culture test. For 508 (49.7%) of patients, both culture and SRAT results were reported. Mean age was 14.5 years (age range 0-89) and there were 506 (49.5%) females and 517 (50.5%) males. Prevalence of disease was detected to be 22.8% in the 5-15 age group and 14.9% in all age groups. Positivity of both SRAT and throat culture tests was statistically significant in the 5-15 age range (p<0.001, p<0.001 respectively). SRAT had a sensitivity of 58% and a specificity of 91%. Positive predictive value and negative predictive value were detected as 54% and 93%, respectively. Conclusion: Our study results represent the first dataset investigating streptococcal tonsillophayngitis and SRAT efficiency in Northern Cyprus. Despite its relatively low sensitivity, due to the high specificity of SRAT, we conclude that it will be beneficial for clinicians in prompt diagnosis and treatment, and will prevent inappropriate antibiotic use.
Authors and Affiliations
Emrah GÜLER, H. Kaya SÜER, Meryem GÜVENİR, Buket BADDAL, Ceyhun DALKAN
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP689299
- DOI 10.4274/mjima.galenos.2019.2019.38
- Views 106
- Downloads 0
Osteoarticular Candida Infection: Report of Three Cases and Literature Review of 44 Patients
Fungal infections in the bones and joints are rare. Candida spp. osteomyelitis is also a very rare entity. The most common pathogen is Candida albicans, but an increase in the incidence of non-albicans Candida osteomyeli...
Pooled Analysis of 86 Published Spinal Hydatid Cyst Cases From Turkey
Introduction: Spinal hydatid cyst (SHC) is a difficult to treat parasitic infectious disease with high risk of recurrence. Similar with HC the visceral organs, there are no standard treatment protocols for SHC. The aim o...
Farewell
No Abstract
Non Antimicrobial Effects of Antibacterial Agents
Aside from their antibacterial activity, antimicrobial agents have also some beneficial effects due to their chemical structures. These effects include anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-cancer, anti-angiogenic, n...
Cefoxitin: Interesting Perspectives on a Neglected Intravenous Beta-lactam
Cefoxitin is a beta-lactam antibiotic belonging to the cephamycins class, up to now only used in clinical practice for prophylaxis during surgery. Recently, its use has increased due to the spread of infections caused by...