• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.90-93
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• 2001

Purpose : The accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of group A streptococal infection should be emphasized concerning about possible development of late sequelae, such as acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis. Inadequate & improperance of antobiotics have resulted in increased number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We would like to know the clinical usefulness of rapid strep test compared with conventional throat culture in out-patients with acute pharyngotonsilitis. Methods : From Sep. 2000. to Jan. 2001, rapid strep test(LINK 2 Strep A, USA) & throat culture were taken from 87 patients with clinically suspect pharyngotonsilitis from Masan Fatima hospital & kyunghee university hospital. Results : Of 87 cases with pharyngitis, 39 cases proved to have group A streptococci by throat culture. The positive predictive value of rapid test was 92.3%(36 of 39 cases) and sensitivity test was 81.8%(36 of 44 cases). The specificity of rapid test was 93.0%(40 of 43 cases) and negative predictive value was 83.3%(40 of 48 cases). Conclusion : The positive predictive value & specificity of rapid strep test is high. And so, this test will give the pediatricians practical guidance of antibiotic use in patients with pharyngitis. But more efforts should be made to prevent antibiotics abuse and correct diagnosis of pharyngitis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.124-130
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• 2008

Streptococcus (Strep.) agalactiae is one of the major pathogens of bovine mastitis and is the main cause of subclinical infection. This study attempted to develop a rapid PCR diagnosis procedure using milk samples collected on filter paper disks. Chromatographic filter paper was employed as the preservation media and kept at room temperature for one to four weeks. The revival rate of Strep. agalactiae kept on dried filter paper disks was affected by the pretreatment preservation time. The revival test suggested that not all the bacteria in artificially contaminated milk samples on the filter paper disks could be recovered. After that, a PCR based on the 16-23S intergenic spacer region of Strep agalactiae was performed. The results distinguished the strep. agalactiae from major pathogens of bovine mastitis at a $2{\times}10^2$ colony forming units (CFU)/ml level, which showed similar sensitivity to the results from liquid milk samples. The results also showed that milk samples collected on filter paper disks could be kept at room temperature for one to four weeks with little negative effect on sensitivity and specificity. The field test showed that the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was 96.15% and 98.60%, respectively. In conclusion, the protocol will provide a rapid and economic procedure for the detection of bovine mastitis.