CULTURE AND FLUORESCENT-ANTIBODY METHODS IN DIAGNOSIS OF WHOOPING COUGH.

Holwerda, Jack (Michigan Department of Health, Grand Rapids) and Grace Eldering. Culture and fluorescent-antibody methods in diagnosis of whooping cough. J. Bacteriol. 86:449-451. 1963.-Nasopharyngeal swabs from 517 suspected whooping-cough patients were examined by culture and by fluorescent-antibody (FA) staining procedures applied to direct slide preparations. A total of 138 were positive by both methods, 25 by culture only, and 25 by FA only. The FA technique was also used in the identification of young cultures. It was shown that a positive culture report could be speeded up by about 1 day by this method. Without FA, onehalf the positive culture reports were made in 3 days; with FA, 75% were reported in a similar period.