Pharyngeal swab collection procedure

Purpose of pharyngeal swab 

Take secretions from pharynx and tonsil for bacterial culture or virus isolation.

Material of pharyngeal swab

Throat swab culture tube, alcohol lamp, match, tongue depressor, flashlight.

Step of pharyngeal swab

1. Check the doctor's order, stick the label on the specimen container, and bring the object to the patient's bed.

2. Check the patient and explain the purpose and method of throat swab culture.

3. Light the alcohol lamp, ask the patient to open his mouth and make an "ah" sound, expose his throat, and wipe the secretions on the palatal arch, pharynx and tonsils on both sides with a quick and gentle movement with a sterile long cotton swab in the culture tube.

4. After taking, disinfect the test tube mouth on the flame of alcohol lamp, then insert the cotton swab into the test tube and plug it tightly.

5. Submit for inspection in time

Sample collection.

The disease prevention and control institutions in the place where the epidemic occurs are responsible for the collection of samples of epidemic cases.

1. Sampling type

Collect throat and nose swabs of influenza like cases. If necessary, serum samples can be collected at the same time.

2. Sampling object

(1) Throat and nose swabs: influenza like cases without taking antiviral drugs (amantadine, rimantadine, Tamiflu, etc.) within 3 days of onset.

(2) Acute phase serum: influenza like cases within 7 days after onset.

(3) Convalescent serum: influenza like cases 2 ~ 4 weeks after onset.

3. Sampling method

(1) Pharyngeal swab collection: when collecting samples from infant patients, first wet the cotton swab with Hank's solution (pH7.4), squeeze it dry on the test tube wall, apply it on the subject's nasopharynx for several times, and then place the cotton swab in the test tube containing 3ml Hank's solution for examination. When collecting samples from patients over 5 years old, the cotton swab does not have to be wet with Hank's solution.

(2) Nasal swab: gently insert a cotton swab into the nasopalatine part of the nasal meatus, stay for a while and then slowly rotate to exit. Wipe both nostrils with the same swab. Immerse the head of the cotton swab in 3 ~ 4ml of sampling solution and discard the tail.

(3) Serum collection: collect 5ml of venous blood, centrifuge and put the supernatant into the serum tube. Serum samples should be collected from both acute and convalescent sera.

4. Number of samples collected

For each case of epidemic situation, 10 nasal swabs should be collected as far as possible (if there is an outbreak of epidemic disease, all swabs should be collected at the same time). For those that cannot be diagnosed clearly, the sampling batch and quantity can be increased as appropriate.