Suspended due to the Covid-19 epidemic, rapid angina tests will again be possible in pharmacies from July 1.
- Diagnostic orientation tests for angina in pharmacies, suspended due to the health crisis, will return on July 1
- These tests can see if the angina is of viral or bacterial origin.
- They are one of the tools to limit the unnecessary use of antibiotic treatments
It is a valuable tool to avoid taking antibiotics when it is not necessary. Rapid angina tests can be performed again in pharmacies from July 1 and will be covered by health insurance. These “rapid diagnostic orientation tests” (TROD) make it possible to know, in the event of a sore throat, whether it is a viral infection or an infection of bacterial origin.
Fighting antibiotic resistance
If it is important to check what is the origin of angina, it is because it must be treated very differently depending on its nature: if it is viral, which is the case in 80 % of angina, it should not be treated with antibiotics; in, on the other hand, if it is of bacterial origin, the catch. antibiotics may be required.
This is the whole point of TROD-angina, the main objective of which is to limit the prescriptions of antibiotics when they are useless, which contributes to the fight against bacterial resistance to antibiotics.
Group A Streptococcus
The TROD-angina consists of taking a sample from the patient’s throat using a long cotton swab and putting it in the presence of reagents in the form of strips which allow after 5 to 10 minutes to determine if the Angina may or may not be due to group A streptococcus requiring treatment with antibiotics.
These tests, which can also be carried out by the general practitioner or an ENT specialist, had been suspended for pharmacists after the appearance of the Covid-19 epidemic. From July 1, in the event of a sore throat, it will therefore again be possible to do this test in pharmacies with 70% reimbursement by Health Insurance.
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