RT Book, Section A1 Simel, David L. A1 Rennie, Drummond SR Print(0) ID 3487472 T1 Streptococcal Pharyngitis T2 The Rational Clinical Examination: Evidence-Based Clinical Diagnosis YR 2016 FD 2016 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9780071590303 LK jamaevidence.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=3487472 RD 2024/03/28 AB No matter what the patient's age, most cases of pharyngitis will not be attributable to streptococcus. During the general physical examination, clinicians should consider performing a throat culture or rapid antigen test, but only in tandem with the Centor score. None of the univariate signs or symptoms associated with pharyngitis has high enough sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis according to clinical grounds alone. The greatest utility for the Centor score is in identifying patients for whom a throat culture or rapid streptococcal test should be performed because the score itself is not sufficient for confirming a diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis.