COMPARISON OF 3 METHODS FOR CULTURING THROAT SWABS FROM CYSTIC-FIBROSIS PATIENTS

In patients with cystic fibrosis who do not produce sputum, deep throa t swabs are cultured for potential respiratory pathogens, Usually thes e swabs are directly streaked onto selective agar media, In a study of 50 pediatric cystic fibrosis patients, we compared this traditional m ethod using rayon swabs with two methods having quantitative modificat ions: calcium alginate swabs eluted in Ringer's lactate and rayon swab s eluted in normal saline, The eluates were then processed quantitativ ely (three-step dilution series). The yield of potential pathogens was significantly higher with the two quantitative methods, Overall, the combination of alginate with Ringer's lactate was superior to the comb ination of rayon with saline, although only some of these differences achieved statistical significance.