Validation of nasopharyngeal sampling and culture techniques for detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children in Kenya.

Osman Abdullahi; Eva Wanjiru; Robert Musyimi; Nina Glass; J Anthony G Scott

; (2007) Validation of nasopharyngeal sampling and culture techniques for detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children in Kenya. Journal of clinical microbiology, 45 (10). pp. 3408-3410. ISSN 0095-1137 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.01393-07

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We compared nasopharyngeal swabs against nasal wash cultures for detecting colonizing pneumococci and examined the effect of frozen storage in skim milk-tryptone-glucose-glycerin on culture. Among the 55 children with positive nasal wash cultures, swab cultures were positive for 47 (85%). Of the 96 swabs positive on direct plating, 94 (98%) were positive when recultured after freezing.