Screening cultures

Screening culture is a type a medical test that is done to find an infection. Screening cultures are often performed to find infections that do not have signs and symptoms.

Types of screening cultures
Perinatal Group B Streptococcal Disease comes from an intrauterine infection of the fetus from the spread of Group B Streptococcus from the vagina of a colonized woman who is typically asymptomatic. Medical studies show that prenatal screening cultures reduce the incidence of Perinatal Group B Streptococcal Disease. Studies of single institutions or health maintenance organizations show institutions with a culture-based screening policy have close to 90% of delivering women with documented GBS screening, and close to 90% of GBS-positive women received intrapartum antibiotics. Cost-effectiveness analyses of the screening- and risk-based strategies have indicated that although the initial costs associated with specimen collection and processing make the screening strategy more expensive than the risk-based approach, the overall cost savings due to disease prevention do not differ importantly between strategies.

External link

 * Prevention of Perinatal Group B Streptococcal Disease Revised Guidelines from CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report August 16, 2002. 51(RR11);1-22.