Nasal Washing May be Effective Alternative to Nasopharyngeal Swabbing

Nasopharyngeal carriage of potential pathogens is important as it is both the major source of transmission and the prerequisite of invasive disease. New methods for detecting carriage could improve comfort, accuracy and laboratory utility. Jenna F Gritzfeld, of the Respiratory Infection Group at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, UK, and colleagues, sought to compare the sensitivities of a nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) and a nasal wash (NW) in detecting potential respiratory pathogens in healthy adults using microbiological culture and PCR.

Healthy volunteers attended for nasal washing and brushing of the posterior nasopharynx. Conventional and real-time PCR were used to detect pneumococcus and meningococcus. Statistical differences between the two nasal sampling methods were determined using a nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test; differences between culture and PCR methods were determined using the McNemar test. Nasal washing was more comfortable for volunteers than swabbing (n = 24). In detection by culture, the NW was significantly more likely to detect pathogens than the NPS (p<0.00001). Overall, there was a low carriage rate of pathogens in this sample; no significant difference was seen in the detection of bacteria between culture and PCR methods.

The researchers conclude that nasal washing and PCR may provide effective alternatives to nasopharyngeal swabbing and classical microbiology, respectively. Their research was published in BMC Research Notes.

Reference: Gritzfeld JF, Roberts P, Roche L, El Batrawy S and Gordon SB. Comparison between nasopharyngeal swab and nasal wash, using culture and PCR, in the detection of potential respiratory pathogens. BMC Research Notes 2011, 4:122.