Throat swabs in children with respiratory tract infection: associations with clinical presentation and potential targets for point-of-care testing

Thornton, Hannah V; Hay, Alastair D; Redmond, Niamh M; Turnbull, Sophie L; Christensen, Hannah; Peters, Tim J; Leeming, John P; Lovering, Andrew; Vipond, Barry; Muir, Peter; Blair, Peter S

Throat samples were obtained by sweeping a dual polyurethane foam tipped swab (Medical Wire and Equipment, Corsham, UK) across the mucus membranes of the posterior oropharynx in the region of the pharyngopalatine arch; both tips of the swab touched both sides of the throat. The two swab tips were snapped off and sealed into separate plastic specimen vials containing transport medium. Vials were transported either using a first class Post Office Safeboxâ„¢ or via existing same-day hospital transport (for practices in the Bristol city area) to the Bristol Centre for Antimicrobial Research and Evaluation (BCARE) at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK. The bacterial culture laboratory processed one vial, and sent the second to the viral identification laboratory by hospital courier for identification of viruses and additional bacteria by semi-quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).