Validation of nasopharyngeal sampling and culture techniques for detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae in children in Kenya

We compared nasopharyngeal swabs against nasal wash cultures for detecting colonizing pneumococci and examined the effect of frozen storage in skim milk-try ptone-glucose-glycerin on culture. Among the 55 children with positive nasal wash cultures, swab cultures were positive for 47 (85%). Of the 96 swabs positive on direct plating, 94 (98%) were positive when recultured after freezing. Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.