A comparison of cotton-tipped and nylon flocked swabs for culture of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from oropharyngeal samples.

Authors :: Phillips TR
Tabesh M
Fairley CK
Maddaford K
Pasricha S
Wigan R
De Petra V
Williamson DA
Chow EPF
Source :: Diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease [Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis] 2021 Nov; Vol. 101 (3), pp. 115455. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jun 18.
Publication Year :: 2021
Abstract: Our aim was to determine if there was a difference in culture positivity for oropharyngeal gonorrhoea when sampling using a nylon-flocked versus cotton-tipped swab. We collected FLOQSwabs and cotton-tipped swabs from individuals aged ≥ 18 years who had untreated oropharyngeal gonorrhoea detected by NAAT between November 2019-June 2020.Of 78 participants, 32 (41.0%) were culture-positive for N. gonorrhoeae from either swab. Of these 32, 29 (90.6%, 95%CI: 75.0%-98.0%) were positive on both swabs, one (3.1%, 95%CI: 0.0%-16.2%) tested positive on FLOQSwab only and two (6.2%, 95%CI: 0.1%-20.8%) tested positive on cotton-tipped swabs only. There was moderate agreement between the swabs in the amount of bacterial growth (Cohen's Kappa (k)=0.745; 95%CI: 0.622-0.868, p<0.001). Our results showed that the proportion of positive results was comparable using the FLOQSwabs versus the cotton-tipped swabs for oropharyngeal gonorrhoea culture.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing interests None.<br /> (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Subjects :: Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Gonorrhea diagnosis
Gonorrhea microbiology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neisseria gonorrhoeae growth & development
Pilot Projects
Respiratory Tract Infections microbiology
Specimen Handling standards
Young Adult
Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolation & purification
Nylons
Oropharynx microbiology
Specimen Handling instrumentation
Specimen Handling methods
Textiles

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