Rapid Test vs Culture

[nojo]

This is my understanding:

 

A positive rapid test = positive (unless you've been recently treated with antibiotics and then you need a culture)

A negative rapid test = can be a false negative (send to culture)

 

So generally does a positive rapid strep test mean you do have strep? When I got our records and noted my non pandas daughter had 12 positives over 30 months the doctor dismissed this saying that they were just rapid tests, not cultures. They were positive enough to treat the strep, so I assumed that they were positives. Apparently our practice throws out the second swab if the rapid test is positive. Are there many false positives in rapid tests? Does this discount the positive rapid tests on my other daughter?

 

Bottom line: Do you need a culture to prove strep, or is a rapid test good enough?

[thereishope]

A positive rapid is good enough to prove strep. However, you can get a false negative on a rapid, that's when you graduate to a culture.

[EAMom]

In other words, you can believe a rapid if it positive...and so there is no reason (IMO) to run a culture.

If the rapid is negative...you should follow up with a culture (when PANDAS is concerned) to make sure the child is really negative.

 

If the rapid is postitive and then a culture is run and that is negative....one explanation would be that the doctor didn't get a good enough swab for the culture. So, I would still believe the rapid, not the culture (which wasn't really necessary to run in the first place).