ear, nose, and throat disorders
How To Swab a Throat for Testing
Introduction
In pharyngitis (tonsillopharyngitis), testing of throat swabs may be done to identify infection with group A beta-hemolytic streptococci orN. gonorrhea. Testing may involve traditional culture on sheep blood agar (GABHS) or Thayer-Martin medium (gonorrhea), rapid antigen testing (GABHS), or nucleic acid amplification testing (gonorrhea, COVID-19). (See also Streptococcal Infections .) 