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Detection of group a Streptococcus in pharyngitis by two rapid tests: comparison of the BD Veritor™ and the QuikRead go® Strep A

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Abstract

We compared the performance of two rapid antigen tests—QuikRead go® Strep A test (Orion Diagnostica, Espoo, Finland) and BD Veritor™ system (Becton, Dickinson and Company, Sparks, MD) with throat culture. Our aim was to evaluate each assay’s performance and agreement compared to throat culture in order to choose one of the assays as a point-of-care test in the emergency room. One hundred throat samples were collected in triplicates from patients with suspected pharyngitis admitted to the emergency room. One throat swab was seeded for a throat culture. The other two throat swabs from each patient were analyzed at the emergency room by the QuikRead go® Strep A test, and by the BD Veritor™ system, according to each manufacturer’s instructions. Agreement level between BD Veritor™ test and throat culture was 79%; sensitivity and specificity of this test were 80% and 78.7%, respectively. QuikRead go® Strep A test had an agreement level of 75% with throat culture; sensitivity and specificity of this test were 80% and 73.3%, respectively. Both tests have a good diagnostic performance. Other characteristics such as costs, size of instrument, and ease of implementation should be taken into consideration when choosing a point-of-care test.

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Acknowledgments

Reagents used in the current study were provided and were partially funded by the Israeli representatives of BD Diagnostics (BACTLAB diagnostics) and Orion Diagnostica (Hy Laboratories Ltd.)

Funding

Reagents used in the current study were provided and were partially funded by the Israel representatives of BD Diagnostics (BACTLAB diagnostics) and Orion Diagnostica (Hy Laboratories Ltd.). No additional funding was obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, The Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Poriya, Tiberias, Israel

    Maya Azrad & Avi Peretz

  2. The Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Unit, The Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Poriya, Tiberias, Israel

    Elena Danilov & Sivan Goshen

  3. The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel

    Sivan Goshen, Orna Nitzan & Avi Peretz

  4. Infectious Disease Unit, Poriya Medical Center, Poriya, Tiberias, Israel

    Orna Nitzan

Authors
  1. Maya Azrad
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  2. Elena Danilov
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  3. Sivan Goshen
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  4. Orna Nitzan
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  5. Avi Peretz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Avi Peretz.

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The study was approved by a Helsinki board—approval no. POR 0012-17.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Azrad, M., Danilov, E., Goshen, S. et al. Detection of group a Streptococcus in pharyngitis by two rapid tests: comparison of the BD Veritor™ and the QuikRead go® Strep A. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 38, 1179–1185 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-019-03527-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-019-03527-w

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