TROD angina test: streptococcus A, pharmacy, principle

TROD rapid tests are intended to detect angina and are available in pharmacies. Painless and quick, these tests are covered up to 70% by health insurance. They can also be made free during a medical consultation. When to do them? At what age ? How do they work? How to interpret the results? What is their price? Manual.

What is the TROD Angina test used for?

The rapid diagnostic orientation test for angina (TROD angina) allows diagnose angina and its origin. In other words, it allows you to know in a few minutes if the angina is viral (most common in both adults and children) or bacterial (due most often to group A streptococcus). Its purpose is to limit the prescription of unnecessary antibiotics because only bacterial angina requires treatment with antibiotics while most angina is viral. Remember that angina is an inflammation of the tonsils of infectious origin.

► viral angina represented 60 to 75% angina in children and 75 to 90% angina in adults

► Bacterial angina represented 25 to 40% cases in children, and only, 10 to 25% in adults.

Indications: when to do a TROD test?

The TROD test for angina is not always helpful. It is only indicated in case of sore throat suggestive of angina (irritations, burns of the throat, difficulty in swallowing especially for solid foods, swelling of the lymph nodes of the neck…). The TROD test is therefore not indicated in case of symptoms suggestive of a cold characterized by cough, discharge and nasal obstruction, whether or not there is associated pharyngeal pain and redness of the throat.

From what age can a TROD test be done?

Before 3 years, the test is useless because bacterial angina is very rare.

It is recommended to do this at children from 3 years old, assures the site of the Health insurance. Before 3 years, the test is useless because bacterial angina is very rare. For adults, the doctor judges whether a TROD test is useful after examining his patient. In pharmacies, TROD tests are possible for children over 10 years old and for adults (except for patients at risk of immunosuppression (patient living with HIV, patient undergoing immunosuppressive treatment, including long-term corticosteroid therapy and cancer undergoing chemotherapy), febrile pregnant patients (temperature >38°C), patients over 70 years old with temperature > 38°C, similar episode of sore throat treated recently (< 1 month) with an antibiotic on the basis of the patient declaration Patients should not do a TROD test in a pharmacy and should contact their doctor).

Instructions for use: what is the principle of the TROD test?

You can do a TROD test at a general practitioner, a pediatrician, an ENT or in a pharmacy, in the absence of prior consultation.

• After the visual examination of the patient’s throat, the doctor or pharmacist performs a sample from the tonsils with a large cotton swab (called a swab)
• He places the swab in a tube in which he puts a few drops of liquid reagent and rotates it by pressing the swab against the walls of the tube.
• He then immerses a strip in the tube which becomes colored after 5 to 10 minutes.

What do the results of a TROD test mean?

These are the lines on the strip that will indicate the presence of angina or not (see below).

• A trait : the test is negative
• Two lines: the test is positive

Then, depending on the color of this strip (not shown in the diagram below), the doctor or pharmacist knows whether the angina is viral or bacterial. Antibiotic treatment is necessary if the angina is bacterial.

What is its price and is it reimbursed?

With a general practitioner, pediatrician or ENT, the TROD angina test is free. When performed in pharmacies, the TROD test costs between 6 and 7 euros and is reimbursed up to 70% by health insurance.

Sources: Health Insurance site (January 26, 2021) / Site of the Regional Union of Health Professionals – Pharmacists of Ile-de-France.