What Is a Throat Swab?
A throat swab is a type of outpatient medical diagnostic test in which a cotton swab is swiped across the inner surface of the throat near the tonsils in order to obtain a small tissue sample. This test is most often used to diagnose whether or not a patient is infected with a bacterial infection of the throat — typically streptococcus infection, more commonly known as strep throat. The throat swab test is also called a throat culture or strep culture. Strep throat is a fairly common illness, often spread in the winter months. It is easily passed from person to person via coughing, sneezing, and sharing food or drinks. The most common symptom of strep throat is a sore or itchy throat. Other symptoms may include painful swallowing, bad breath, earache, headache, stomach ache, mild fever, swollen and sore tonsils and neck glands, red, white, or yellow spots in the throat or on the roof of the mouth, and runny nose. The presence of these symptoms may prompt a health care provider to do a
Related Questions
- Is it planned to give permissions for the private or the central labs to be able to make the throat swab test in order to lessen the capacity of people at the specialized hospitals for this test?
- Can throat swab after physiotherapy replace sputum for identification of microbial pathogens in children with cystic fibrosis?
- Where To Swab For Strep Throat Test
