A comparative study of ESwab™ versus direct inoculation for GC

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  A comparative study of the performance of ESwab™ versus direct inoculation for the detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in patients presenting to level 3 Genitourinary Medicine (GU) clinics.

• IRAS ID

  256404

• Contact name

  Sally Jewsbury

• Contact email

  sally.jewsbury@mft.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  The rate of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) in the UK is rapidly rising. In 2018 56,259 diagnoses of were reported, a 26% increase from the previous year. Globally the treatment of GC is reaching crisis point with the reduction in susceptibility to antibiotics. The correct diagnosis of GC is important for appropriate management and antibiotic stewardship.
  GC can be directly plated, whereby specimens are inoculated onto the enriched culture plate by the bedside. Alternatively a swab is taken to the lab in a transport media tube with automated rapid plating in the laboratory. This technology may improve the user variability of specimen plating. Numerous platforms exist for both methods. Where direct plating occurs there is potentially greater variation in the quality of specimen inoculation

  Transport media testing may present a significant cost saving. They are also potentially safer as the use of direct plating can lead to the growth of Meningococcal bacteria which could cause inadvertent harm to staff managing culture plates in a clinical environment.

  To date they have not been compared head to head with direct plating and this is important before they are adopted more widely.

  We aim to explore the differences between one media tube called ESwab™ and direct inoculation of agar culture plates taken from the same patient at the same time in a level 3 genitourinary clinic

  If they prove to be as effective as direct culture plating there is the potential to recommend these routinely, saving the NHS money, improving quality of testing and safer working for staff.

• REC name

  East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  20/EM/0304

• Date of REC Opinion

  8 Apr 2021

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion