In the past when they did strep throat swab tests on me they stick 2 swabs in your throat at the same time, one for the rapid strep test and one for the culture. I went to a new doctor today and they used only one swab, they did the rapid strep test and then said they will sent it for culture. I asked them about this since they used only one swab, I don’t remember exactly what they said but they seemed to think it was ok. Has anyone ever had this done since it seems strange to me? I would think that the chemicals in the rapid strep test would dilute the strep germs and make the culture test ineffective or less effective.
It appears that it is possible to do both an accurate culture and rapid strep from one swab. This study outlines the procedure, though the title, misleadingly, isn’t referring to your question.
When I collected these swabs in the past, we used two.
Back in the 20th century I got frequent sore throats and always knew whether it was strep or not from the specific pain sensation. Are others like this?
I’ve only had strep once, and it was different from every other sore throat I’ve had not just in the level of pain, but also the fact that it was accompanied by a severe headache and a 103F fever.
I remember getting double swiped longer ago, but more recently only single swiped. So maybe the testing procedure has changed, either due to further advancements, or just studies showing that one works as well as two.