Additional Information

Group A Strep Culture will no longer be orderable. It will become a reflex-only test.

There are certain situations in which testing for viable Group A Strep organisms, not just antigen or nucleic acid, is warranted, such as persistent infection, recurrent infections in households, and chronic carriage.

Given this, an Ask at Order Entry (AOE) question has been added to the Group A Strep PCR test asking, “Is this for test of cure or detection of asymptomatic carriage?”

• If answered as no, only the PCR will be performed.
• If answered as yes, the PCR will be performed and, if positive, will reflex to culture looking for viable Group A Strep. If the PCR is negative, no further testing is warranted.