Week 7: Investigation

At my internship in a pediatrician's office at Washington Adventist University, I stood in and watched the doctor perform a throat culture on a young boy. The procedure was done with a swab (a larger version of a q-tip).

The procedure is quite simple: the patient opens his or her mouth and the doctor uses a tongue depressor so that he or she can have a better view of the back of the throat. Next, the doctor takes a swab and rubs it along the back of the patient's throat for a few seconds. After the swabbing is completed, the swab is concealed in a bag and is sent to the laboratory for testing.

The purpose of swabbing is to gather the secretions created by the throat and mouth that may have bacteria or foreign pathogens. The laboratory bag serves the purpose of blocking off foreign particles that might come in contact (via direct, liquid, or air) and prevents contamination. Once the swab is sent to the lab, the technicians use the same swab and rubs it in a petri-dish to be incubated. After the incubation period, the growth in the dish will determine if there were any foreign pathogens present and if so, what type of pathogen it was.

Typical diseases that can be diagnosed by a throat swab include strep throat, tonsillitis, and pneumonia.