Login to South West London Pathology Services

If you have any queries about pathology consumables – you need a new account or you have a query about your order, please telephone 020 8266 6827. Forgotten your password

Whooping Cough Swabs

Category Bacteriology Medical Microbiology
Reporting frequency TAT - Culture results are available from 7 days

Collection conditions

Sample the posterior nasopharynx using a nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) or pernasal swab (PNS). The PNS needs to be gently pushed along the floor of the nasal cavity towards the posterior wall of the nasopharynx as this is where the B. pertussis bacteria are most likely to be found. After sampling, place the PNS for culture in transport media and transfer it without delay to the laboratory for processing.

Additional information

Sensitivity decreases with patient age and also decreases with time after onset and is highly dependent on specimen quality. Timing the specimen collection is important: sensitivity decreases substantially, from approximately 60% within 1 week of symptom onset to culture to 10% or less after 4 weeks. This means it is vital to have accurate details about the onset of symptoms on the patient request form. Sampling of nasopharyngeal secretions in patients with whooping cough may precipitate a paroxysm of coughing and cause obstruction of the airways. Resuscitation equipment must be available if whooping cough is suspected. The specimen collector should avoid exposure to direct coughs from the patient

Lab Tests Online UK

Lab Tests Online - UK is a website written by practising laboratory doctors and scientists to help you understand the many clinical laboratory tests that are used in diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of disease.

Click here to go to Labtestsonline.org.uk

  • Search Tests

Latest news

June 9, 2023

SWLP celebrates Biomedical Science Day 2023

This week, we marked the 7th annual Biomedical Science Day with stands at St George’s, St Helier and Croydon university hospitals highlighting the amazing and vital work that biomedical scientists do to support our patients.

Read more
June 5, 2023

Rapid sepsis testing at Croydon Hospital

South West London Pathology (SWLP) has been working with bioMerieux to set up and interface Virtuo incubators at Croydon University Hospital (CUH) so that blood culture samples for sepsis can be incubated on site within the national target time of four hours.

Read more
April 6, 2023

Immucor live at Croydon Hospital for blood transfusion

On Wednesday (4 April), the Croydon blood transfusion service went live with the Immucor system. Immucor is the leading provider of transfusion and transplantation diagnostic products in the UK. The new system is fully automated and has high accuracy.

Read more
April 4, 2023

Hepatitis B and C screening in ED

In line with national guidance, Hepatitis B and C screening has now been introduced at Croydon Hospital. The purpose of the initiative is to identify cases of these diseases in patients who may not know they have them, so treatment can be offered early.

Read more