Rapid Antigen Detection Test for Diagnosis of Bacterial Pharyngitis / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

Pharyngitis is a prevalent disease of the upper respiratory tract that requires treatment with an antibiotic. Group A streptococci (GAS) are the most frequent etiologic agents of bacterial pharyngitis. Because GAS are susceptible to penicillin, routine antibiotic susceptibility testing is not needed. Generally, patients with bacterial pharyngitis have high fever, cervical lymphadenopathy and tenderness, and tonsillar exudative discharge without symptoms of the common cold (e.g., cough, rhinorrhea, and sneezing). However, differentiating bacterial pharyngitis from viral pharyngitis based only on their clinical manifestations is problematic. Therefore, a bacterial culture or a rapid antigen detection test (RADT) is required for the diagnosis of bacterial pharyngitis. Although bacterial culture is the gold standard for diagnosis of bacterial pharyngitis, its accuracy is affected by the technical expertise of the technician, and there is a delay of 1–2 days before the results become available. In contrast, the sensitivity of RADT has increased to over 90%, making them suitable for screening purposes. The result of a RADT is available within 5–10 minutes, obviating the need for a second visit to obtain the results of culture. Use of a RADT would enable the optimal antibiotic to be administered earlier, reducing the overuse of antibiotics.