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Upper
respiratory tract infections form majority of patients who admit to ENT
outpatient clinics. Differentiation of the pathogen agent either viral
or bacterial is useful for decreasing treatment cost and unnecessary
antibiotic use. Nowadays, there are a lot of rapid test techniques that
can detect causative agents. In our study, we have examined the
reliability of Rapid Strep A (RSA) test which is one of the rapid tests
that are used for differentiation of viral-bacterial tonsillopharyngitis.
Thirty-one patients who have admitted to Ege University ENT Department
were examined. After ENT examination throat cultures and RSA test were
applied. Peroral antibiotherapy was given to patients with positive RSA
test. Monospot test and heterophil antibody positivity was found on four
patients who were RSA test positive but antibiotherapy failed. According
to our results, RSA test, when used together with other serologic tests
in outpatient clinics, is an easy, rapid, cheap, helpful test for
increasing clinical success and decreasing unnecessary antibiotic use.
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