Rapid Strep Testing in Children Essay Example Paper
Sore throats, also known as pharyngitis in children, are extremely frequent. It is critical to immediately detect the pathogens to administer antibiotics properly and avoid infection recurrence or antimicrobial resistance. The most frequent cause of pharyngitis is viruses. However, approximately 3 in 10 children with the condition have a bacterial group A Streptococcus infection (GAS), which is prevalent in children aged 5 to 15. It is easy to transmit throughout the family, and it may cause serious consequences, including post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, toxic shock syndrome, and rheumatic heart disease (Pichichero, 2016). Rapid strep testing has become the key requirement for early identification of GAS in both adults and children. Rapid strep testing was also approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics as a sole laboratory technique of detection or as a screening method with culture identification. This paper seeks to give an overview of the rapid strep test, including its purpose, the way it is done, the information collected, and how reliable the findings are Rapid Strep Testing in Children Essay Example Paper.
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Description and Purpose
Rapid strep testing uses a throat swab technique to detect antigens. According to (Banerjee & Ford, 2018), rapid strep testing is a quick and effective method to see whether strep microorganisms are in the throat. The technique detects the bacterium group A streptococcus that produces strep throat and diseases including abscesses, scarlet fever, and pneumonia. This technique is also used to determine if streptococci are present in other locations, like perianal infection in males and females and vulvar infections in pre-pubertal females (Ehsanipour et al., 2016). When children exhibit signs of strep throat infection, rapid strep testing is usually performed. Decreased energy, inflamed lymph nodes, chills, trouble swallowing, and loss of appetite are the symptoms of strep throat infection. Since strep throat is rare in adults, a practitioner may not request a rapid strep test except if the client has an acute or recurring fever or enlarged lymph nodes in the throat (Ehsanipour et al., 2019)Rapid Strep Testing in Children Essay Example Paper.
How it is Conducted and Information Gathered
Rapid strep testing typically occurs at the physician’s office. A cotton swab is used to wipe the posterior pharynx and tonsils. After that, the swab is put in a specific device, and the test is carried out. The client may experience a feeling of gagging while getting the swab. The discomfort, nevertheless, is minor since it only involves a few seconds (Mustafa & Ghaffari, 2020). When blue and pink show in the specimen, it is positive for GAS, and when the only blue emerges, the test is negative. The strep testing takes approximately 15 minutes to determine whether it is positive or negative. It is performed to figure out what’s causing the sore throat (Cohen et al., 2017). When the exterior of the strep bacterium reacts with proteins and enzymes in the test specimens, the result is a positive test. False-positive findings may occur in rare instances when test samples are highly infested with Staphylococcus aureus. A positive response will appear whether the bacterium is dead or alive (Banerjee & Ford, 2018). If individual tests positive, they will be recommended to consume warm liquids, gargle with saline water, and get antibiotic treatment. The results of the test should constantly be compared to other information accessible to the practitioner. If the amount of derived antigen in a specimen is less than the test’s detectable limits, a negative test result may arise. The doctor will examine other potential causes of the sore throat if the test result comes out negative. Untreated strep infections may cause serious health issues, including rheumatic fever, meningitis, streptococcal pneumonia, infectious kidney inflammation, and ear infections (Mustafa & Ghaffari, 2020) Rapid Strep Testing in Children Essay Example Paper.
Reliability, Validity, and Sensitivity
The validity and reliability of test findings in detecting group A Streptococcal infection are critical in minimizing the misuse of antibiotic medications when a virus is a primary cause. The majority of presently used rapid strep tests have good accuracy of more than 95% and sensitivity of higher than or equivalent to 90% (Banerjee & Ford, 2018). This implies that out of 100 individuals who have been diagnosed with a sore throat, 95 will come back positive when a throat culture test is performed. A standard strep test will overlook 5 of every 100 patients, resulting in five false negatives. As a result, patients should see their health care providers again, especially if their symptoms persist and they are given a throat culture. Either the client has strep bacteria in his tonsil but isn’t infected, or the test identifies the same bacteria by mistake. According to Ehsanipour et al. (2016), rapid strep testing has a 100% positive prediction score and a 93.3 % negative prediction score. This technique has better reliability than subjective medical observations.
The best way to treat a sore throat is debatable. Children with strep throat symptoms should be tested according to clinical recommendations. The primary question would be whether negative results from a physician’s office rapid test must be verified by lab culture (Banerjee & Ford, 2018). This is due to the increased accuracy of fast strep testing, which ranges between 98 and 99 percent, indicating that there are very few false positives. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of this instrument varies from 90 to 95 percent, which implies there is some possibility of false negatives Rapid Strep Testing in Children Essay Example Paper.
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Conclusion
Streptococcal pharyngitis is a seasonal infection with tremendous rates of occurrence in the early spring and winter. The illness is more common in populated areas and among young children, and it is equally spread between females and males. Notwithstanding the fact that a large number of pharyngitis infections are viral in nature, practitioners still handle 50% to 70% of pharyngitis patients with antibiotic medications. As a result, using rapid strep testing to avoid improper antibiotic usage is a successful approach. Rapid strep throat testing is a time-saving and easy way for healthcare professionals to confirm strep throat. It has resulted in a substantial decrease in antibiotic therapy and overuse since its debut approximately a decade ago. Diagnostic tools aid in the diagnosis and management of sore throats, as well as determining if culture tests and empirical antibiotic therapy are required. Since it is rapid and needs just a few minutes to give answers, a rapid strep test is a suitable instrument for testing a throat infection. False-positive results are common in young children. Ultimately, only if the healthcare practitioner has determined that the sensitivity of the rapid strep test employed is equivalent to that of a throat culture, verification of a negative test with a throat culture test is required Rapid Strep Testing in Children Essay Example Paper.
References
Banerjee, S., & Ford, C. (2018). Rapid tests for the diagnosis of group A streptococcal infection: a review of diagnostic test accuracy, clinical utility, safety, and cost-effectiveness. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532707/
Cohen, J. F., Cohen, R., Bidet, P., Elbez, A., Levy, C., Bossuyt, P. M., & Chalumeau, M. (2017). Efficiency of a clinical prediction model for selective rapid testing in children with pharyngitis: A prospective, multicenter study. PloS one, 12(2), e0172871. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0172871
Ehsanipour, F., Mirghorbani, M., Masoumi Asl, H., Vahid Harandi, N., & Khanaliha, K. (2016). Comparison of clinical findings and rapid streptococcal antigen detection test in the diagnosis of Group A streptococcal (GAS) pharyngitis. Archives of Clinical Infectious Diseases, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.5812/archcid.34590
Mustafa, Z., & Ghaffari, M. (2020). Diagnostic methods, clinical guidelines, and antibiotic treatment for Group A streptococcal pharyngitis: A narrative review. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2020.563627
Pichichero, M. E. (2016). Complications of streptococcal tonsillopharyngitis. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/complications-of-streptococcal-tonsillopharyngitis
Assessment Tools or Diagnostic Tests – Option 1 Assignment (3–4 pages, not including title and reference pages): Assignment Option 1: Adult Assessment Tools or Diagnostic Tests: Rapid Strep testing in children Include the following: A description of how the assessment tool or diagnostic test you were assigned is used in healthcare. What is its purpose? How is it conducted? What information does it gather? Based on your research, evaluate the test or the tool’s validity and reliability, and explain any issues with sensitivity, reliability, and predictive values. Include references in appropriate APA formatting Rapid Strep Testing in Children Essay Example Paper