Investigation of the Prevalence of Group A Beta-Haemolytic Streptococcus and Efficiency of Streptococcus Rapid Antigen Test in Patients Prediagnosed With Acute Tonsillopharyngitis in a University Hospital

Introduction: Acute tonsillopharyngitis is the most important infectious cause of hospital admission in pediatric age groups. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of group A beta-hemolytic streptococci in patients prediagnosed with acute tonsillopharyngitis in a university hospital in Northern Cyprus and determine the effectiveness of Streptococcus rapid antigen test (SRAT) in diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Patients with acute tonsillopharyngitis prediagnosis and admitted to our hospital between September 1, 2015 and December 31, 2017 were retrospectively screened from physical and electronic records. Patients with a throat culture and/or SRAT result were included in the study. Culture method was used as the golden standard. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 13.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) programme and p