What do throat swabs test for?

Dec 31, 2006
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Hi HN,

I get tested every 1-2 months. I had assumed that throat swabs cover the usual suspects: chlamydia, gonorhea & open herpes lesions but a client recently told me that he was informed by a Dr that throat swabs can't detect chlamydia.

So my question to you is what sample test for what diseases and are there some diseases that are almost impossible to detect in certain areas?

Thanks :)
 

mercyshooter

Ladies' Lover
Aug 5, 2007
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Vancouver
I don't get throat swab tests unless I got a sore throat and the throat is too red. Usually it's a viral infection!! As to the detail, let's wait for the HN to answer!!
 

Health Nurse

Supporting Member
Nov 24, 2004
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Hi HN,

I get tested every 1-2 months. I had assumed that throat swabs cover the usual suspects: chlamydia, gonorhea & open herpes lesions but a client recently told me that he was informed by a Dr that throat swabs can't detect chlamydia.

So my question to you is what sample test for what diseases and are there some diseases that are almost impossible to detect in certain areas?

Thanks :)


Hi Indy Isabelle

Currently we can only test for gonorrhea in the throat with the swab. Research projects have shown that chlamydia can live in the throat, but currently we do not have any validated tests in BC that will check for it.

If the health care person sees a sore in the throat that they think may be herpes they can use a viral culture swab to check for it.

It is always a good idea to get a gonorrhea test of the throat as most people do not have symptoms when they have this.

Let us know if you want us to expand on a topic. Remember if you would like to ask me a personal question just send me a PM.

HN
www.stiresource.com
 

Katlyn

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Jul 3, 2008
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Hi Indy Isabelle

Currently we can only test for gonorrhea in the throat with the swab. Research projects have shown that chlamydia can live in the throat, but currently we do not have any validated tests in BC that will check for it.

If the health care person sees a sore in the throat that they think may be herpes they can use a viral culture swab to check for it.

It is always a good idea to get a gonorrhea test of the throat as most people do not have symptoms when they have this.

Let us know if you want us to expand on a topic. Remember if you would like to ask me a personal question just send me a PM.

HN
www.stiresource.com
I thought you also tested for Syphillis in the throat? I was told that one of the first symptoms is usually a lesion in the back of the throat.
 

Thais

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Apr 29, 2006
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Currently we can only test for gonorrhea in the throat with the swab. Research projects have shown that chlamydia can live in the throat, but currently we do not have any validated tests in BC that will check for it.
Does it imply that even if you test regularly and come all negative - you can still carry chlamydia and other NGU-causing bacteria in your throat - and risk transmission with a BBBJ?

http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/ngu.html

I am asking because I just had a personal run-in with this issue and the nurse I just saw in Alberta pretty much confirmed it.
On the other hand, chlamydia is not listed in the previous BBBJ threads as "the most common" BBBJ risk. So I am wondering how often do you see it and if you have any statistics on NGU. And what is chlamydia's transmission coefficient?
 
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Health Nurse

Supporting Member
Nov 24, 2004
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I thought you also tested for Syphillis in the throat? I was told that one of the first symptoms is usually a lesion in the back of the throat.


Hi Katlyn

You are correct in that it is possible to test for syphilis in the mouth if you have a syphilis lesion there. It is not a real accurate way of testing for syphilis as not everyone gets a visible lesion and there are also other bacteria in the mouth that make it difficult to get an accurate result. We would do this test by taking a sample from the lesion, put it on a microscope slide and then have a look at it under a special microscope,

The best way to test for syphilis is by doing a blood test. The only problem with blood tests is that you need to wait for the window period before testing for accuracy. Most syphilis cases would show up after 6 weeks after exposure and all cases would show up after 3 months.

So to answer your question we would only check for syphilis in your mouth if we saw a lesion that looked like syphilis in there. We offer everyone who comes to the clinic a syphilis blood test so as long as you are getting that you would be covered. The blood test would pick up syphilis no matter how it got in your body e.g. mouth, vagina, penis, anus.

More information on syphilis.
http://www.stiresource.com/disease/index.php?page=edit&id=4&action=viewfull

Let us know if you want us to expand on a topic. Remember if you would like to ask me a personal question just send me a PM.

HN
www.stiresource.com
 

Health Nurse

Supporting Member
Nov 24, 2004
894
4
0
Does it imply that even if you test regularly and come all negative - you can still carry chlamydia and other NGU-causing bacteria in your throat - and risk transmission with a BBBJ?

http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/ngu.html

I am asking because I just had a personal run-in with this issue and the nurse I just saw in Alberta pretty much confirmed it.
On the other hand, chlamydia is not listed in the previous BBBJ threads as "the most common" BBBJ risk. So I am wondering how often do you see it and if you have any statistics on NGU. And what is chlamydia's transmission coefficient?




Hi Thais

You are correct. Someone can get regular throat swabs but as we are only testing for gonorrhea it would not detect chlamydia or the range of other things that can cause NGU and be passed via a BBBJ.

You bring up some good points. The main problem we have with NGU is that it is not a reportable infection but more a syndrome so we do not have accurate numbers. We just have personal experience when we have seen people get a BBBJ and then get NGU.

In regard to chlamydia it has an estimated transmission coefficient of 0.2. Gonorrhea and syphilis have higher numbers than that (they transmit easier)

The other thing about chlamydia is that we do not have a validated test for the throat so we are not able to test for it and see how many people have it, but from research studies we have been shown that it can live in the throat.

Chlamydia is common in BC, approximately 9000 cases last year. As chlamydia can have up to 6 weeks from exposure to onset of infection with most infections having no symptoms it can sometimes be difficult to show that cause and effect e.g. did the person get chlamydia from the recent BBBJ or was it from vaginal sex with a past partner.

Gonorrhea is much easier to prove cause and effect as most men experience symptoms in the penis and this usually happens in 2-7 days.

I will give you an example I had last Monday. I was working in the clinic and a man came in with discharge to his penis (looked like classic gonorrhea symptoms) and ended up having gonorrhea and chlamydia. He had only one partner in the previous month a lady from craigslist who had given him a BBBJ four days before. With this information we are able to draw strong conclusions that the gonorrhea was past by the BBBJ, but in regard to the chlamydia it could have been passed via the BBBJ or maybe it could have been from an ex girlfriend 6 months ago (chlamydia does not usually show symptoms in men or woman).

I agree with you that we should have put chlamydia down as one of the most common BBBJ risk as we have the evidence that it can live in the throat and when you combine this with the amount of chlamydia in Canada it does increase the odds. Hopefully when we start testing from the throat we will have some more accurate data.

Let us know if you want us to expand on a topic. Remember if you would like to ask me a personal question just send me a PM.

HN
www.stiresource.com
 
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