Applicability of a scoring system in the diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis.

The usefulness of a scoring system, developed in a private pediatric practice, for the early diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis has been evaluated in a teaching hospital. The system, evaluated in 892 patients, appears most useful in predicting culture-negative patients (80%). A false positive rate of 20 per cent precludes the use of the scoring system in the decision to initiate antibiotic therapy at our institution.