How to Take a Throat Culture

A throat culture is an exam used to identify a bacterial or fungal infection of the throat. For this exam, a swabbed sample is taken of the throat and placed in a special container. This is also called a culture. If an infection grows, the culture is positive. If no infection grows, the culture is negative.

Things You'll Need

• tongue depessor
• blood agar plate
• sterile swab
• candle jar

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Instructions

• 1

  Label the blood agar plate with the name of the patient.

• 2

  Ask the patient to tilt his head back and open his mouth wide. Press the tongue down with a tongue depressor.

• 3

  Rub a sterile cotton swab along the back of the throat near the tonsils.

• 4

  Roll the swab carefully across the surface of the blood agar plate. Discard the swab and tongue depressor in the biohazard container.

• 5

  Place the blood agar plate in a candle jar. The jar should then be incubated at 35 to 37 degrees Celsius for at least 18 hours. Then, an examination of the plate for any sign of beta hemolytic colonies can be performed. If beta hemolytic colonies exsists, this would indicate a possible throat infection.