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Cough plates versus cough swabs for bacterial detection in cystic fibrosis
Obtaining sputum samples from paediatric cystic fibrosis patients for targeted microbiological therapy is difficult. The cough swab is often used, which involves a cotton-wool swab held in the back of the pharynx and the patient asked to cough. An increasingly used alternative technique is the cough plate, which involves patients coughing directly onto a culture plate. A recent study (Arch Dis Child 2013;98:768–71) has compared the two techniques. Both techniques to collect specimens were conducted in a randomised order at assessments. In total, 95 non-expectorating patients (mean age 9 years) took part, with 324 sets of cough plates and cough swabs produced. Pathogens were isolated in 18% of cough swabs compared with 8% of cough plates. Agreement between the two specimen types occurred in only 6% of cases. A similar spectrum of pathogens was produced from both techniques. Although most (84%) patients preferred the non-invasive nature of the cough plates, they appear less effective for isolating bacterial pathogens from non-expectorating patients.
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Competing interests None.
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Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.