{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T01:15:20Z","timestamp":1788225320365,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":18,"publisher":"American Society for Microbiology","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770076800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]],"date-time":"2026-02-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1770076800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/non-commercial-tdm-license"}],"funder":[{"name":"Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility Area of NordLab","award":["KT0016"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KT0016"]}]},{"name":"Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility Area of NordLab","award":["KT0017, KT0018"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KT0017, KT0018"]}]},{"name":"Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility Area of NordLab","award":["KT0019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KT0019"]}]},{"name":"Foundation for the Promotion of Laboratory Medicine"},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006706","name":"Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006706","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Competitive State Research Financing of the Expert Responsibility Area of Fimlab","award":["X51409"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["X51409"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.asm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Microbiol Spectr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title\/>\n                    <jats:p>Group A Streptococcus (GAS) and group C\/G Streptococcus (GCS\/GGS) species cause bacterial pharyngitis in both adults and children. Occasionally, GAS can cause invasive and severe infections like septicemia, streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome, and necrotizing fasciitis. Throat culture has remained the gold standard method for diagnosing GAS or GCS\/GGS pharyngitis. Methodologically, bacterial cultivation is laborious and time-consuming. For this, nucleic acid-based tests have been developed since they are rapid and have high sensitivity and specificity compared to culture methods. However, only a few molecular methods for the detection of GAS and especially for GCS\/GGS in clinical throat swab specimens have been described. This study compares the clinical and analytical performance of a fully automated \u201csample-to-result\u201d PCR with the gold standard reference method, culture. According to our results, the sensitivity of pooled PCR for GAS, GCS, and GGS was 94.1%, and the specificity was 94.2%. Pooled positive predictive value was 80.0%, and the negative predictive value was 98.5%. These results highlight that PCR is a reliable method, especially for ruling out negative cases due to its high negative predictive value. However, its positive predictive value is lower, meaning there is a higher chance of false positives. A PCR-based method for the diagnosis of pharyngitis would speed up turnaround time (TAT) and automate laboratory processes, especially in locations far away from a central laboratory. Faster TAT with a sensitive and specific method could reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, since currently, clinicians often prescribe antibiotics empirically before final test results.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>IMPORTANCE<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Pharyngitis is commonly caused by viruses or by Streptococci, the latter of which can be treated with antibiotics. Rapid differential diagnostics help to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, as clinicians often initiate empirical treatment before culture results are available. In addition, a shorter turnaround time for laboratory diagnosis may prevent transmission or development of the more severe disease. Diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis is commonly done by culture, which requires at least 24 h incubation. The results of our study showed that the fully automated PCR system is a useful and reliable tool for speeding up the diagnosis and would be helpful, especially in locations far away from central laboratories.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1128\/spectrum.02099-25","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,31]],"date-time":"2025-12-31T14:22:54Z","timestamp":1767190974000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/asmj-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evaluation of a fully automated \u201csample-to-result\u201d PCR-based diagnostic test for detecting A\/C\/G Streptococci from throat swab specimens"],"prefix":"10.1128","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-2677-2978","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sonja","family":"Suutari-Kontio","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"NordLab Joint County Authority for Wellbeing Services","place":["Oulu, Finland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vesa","family":"M\u00e4ki-Koivisto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NordLab Joint County Authority for Wellbeing Services","place":["Oulu, Finland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ilkka S.","family":"Junttila","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NordLab Joint County Authority for Wellbeing Services","place":["Oulu, Finland"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03yj89h83","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Research Unit of Biomedicine, University of Oulu","place":["Oulu, Finland"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/033003e23","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University","place":["Tampere, Finland"]},{"name":"Fimlab Laboratories","place":["Tampere, Finland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2527-4211","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laura E.","family":"Savolainen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NordLab Joint County Authority for Wellbeing Services","place":["Oulu, Finland"]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03yj89h83","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"Research Unit of Biomedicine, University of Oulu","place":["Oulu, Finland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"235","reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41579-023-00865-7"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","unstructured":"CDC. 2024. Clinical Considerations for Group A Streptococcus. U.S Centers for Disease control and prevention. Available from: https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/group-a-strep\/hcp\/clinical-guidance\/index.html. Retrieved 20 Nov 2024."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/jcm.4.1.54-56.1976"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","unstructured":"Qiagen. 2019. NeuMoDx strep A\/C\/G vantage test strip. Instructions For Use"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/microbiolspec.gpp3-0020-2018"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","unstructured":"CDC. 2024. Clinical Guidance for Group A Streptococcal pharyngitis. U.S Centers for Disease control and prevention. Available from: https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/group-a-strep\/hcp\/clinical-guidance\/strep-throat.html. Retrieved 20 Nov 2024."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/CMR.17.3.571-580.2004"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","unstructured":"BlombergH HonkanenP IvaskaL MannerT SarkkinenH Sipil\u00e4R Wikst\u00e9n J. 2020. K\u00e4yp\u00e4 hoito -suositus. Suomalaisen L\u00e4\u00e4k\u00e4riseuran Duodecimin Suomen Yleisl\u00e4\u00e4ketieteen yhdistyksen Suomen Otolaryngologiyhdistyksen Suomen Infektiol\u00e4\u00e4k\u00e4rit ry:n ja Kliiniset mikrobiologit ry:n asettama ty\u00f6ryhm\u00e4. Helsinki: Suomalainen L\u00e4\u00e4k\u00e4riseura Duodecim. Available from: https:\/\/www.kaypahoito.fi\/hoi38020. Retrieved 22 Nov 2024."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1476-0711-10-33"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.41.1.242-249.2003"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.01482-18"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.00978-21"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00284-021-02547-0"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.01775-19"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12033-009-9143-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.01324-18"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1128\/JCM.03387-15"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12887-019-1393-y"}],"container-title":["Microbiology Spectrum"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1128\/spectrum.02099-25","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1128\/spectrum.02099-25","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T00:47:35Z","timestamp":1788223655000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.asm.org\/doi\/10.1128\/spectrum.02099-25"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Cecilia M.","family":"Thompson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]]},"references-count":18,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1128\/spectrum.02099-25"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1128\/spectrum.02099-25","relation":{},"ISSN":["2165-0497"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2165-0497","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,3]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-07-14","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-11-24","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-12-31","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e02099-25"}}