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. 1987 Jun;33:1445–1448.

The Diagnosis and Treatment of Streptococcal Pharyngitis

WD Parsons
PMCID: PMC2218409  PMID: 21263878

Abstract

To prevent rheumatic fever (RF) most authorities have recommended that treatment of pharyngitis be guided routinely by throat culture results. The recognition of a dramatic decline in the incidence of RF has rekindled the debate about the place of throat culture. Using clinical judgement alone, most practitioners would treat four or five patients for each culture positive. Although it is possible to use algorithms to select low- and high-risk groups for whom culture may not be necessary, a specific diagnosis must still be sought in the majority of patients. Diagnostic kits for rapid detection of group A streptococus facilitates this approach.

Keywords: rheumatic fever, throat culture, diagnosis

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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