The accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of group A streptococal infection should be emphasized concerning about possible development of late sequelae, such as acute rheumatic fever and acute glomerulonephritis. Inadequate & improperance of antobiotics have resulted in increased number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. We would like to know the clinical usefulness of rapid strep test compared with conventional throat culture in out-patients with acute pharyngotonsilitis.

From Sep. 2000. to Jan. 2001, rapid strep test(LINK 2 Strep A, USA) & throat culture were taken from 87 patients with clinically suspect pharyngotonsilitis from Masan Fatima hospital & kyunghee university hospital.

Of 87 cases with pharyngitis, 39 cases proved to have group A streptococci by throat culture. The positive predictive value of rapid test was 92.3%(36 of 39 cases) and sensitivity test was 81.8%(36 of 44 cases). The specificity of rapid test was 93.0%(40 of 43 cases) and negative predictive value was 83.3%(40 of 48 cases).

The positive predictive value & specificity of rapid strep test is high. And so, this test will give the pediatricians practical guidance of antibiotic use in patients with pharyngitis. But more efforts should be made to prevent antibiotics abuse and correct diagnosis of pharyngitis.