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DAVID J. UHLIK, PHD
Technical Services Marion Laboratories Inc PO Box 8480 Kansas City, MO 64114

Am J Dis Child. 1990;144(2):137.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Sir.—I read with interest Taubman and colleagues'¹ excellent article in the January 1989 issue of AJDC. A statement made in the article deserves amplification. The authors state, "One reason for lower specificity may be due to possible interference from over-the-counter cold medications. Such medications have been shown to cause false-positive results with this particular latex test" (Culturette Brand Group A STREP ID).²

In the reference cited, I stated that we had indirect evidence that some false-positive results may be due to the patients' ingestion of certain over-the-counter medications. In these cases, the latex test was positive for group A Streptococcus, but in vitro testing showed that β-hemolytic Streptococcus reversibly manifested -hemolysis when exposed to the medication on blood agar plates. Such plates could possibly be misread as "negative for group A Streptococcus."

In conclusion, the authors are correct in their statement that false-positive results may be reported; . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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