samples testing falsely negative in the Aptima Combo 2 test in Finland, 2019.

Since February 2019, over 160 (CT) cases testing negative or equivocal by Aptima Combo 2 (AC2) but positive by Aptima CT test run with Panther instruments occurred in Finland. The AC2 test targets chlamydial 23S rRNA while the CT test targets 16S rRNA. Sequencing of 10 strains revealed a nucleotide substitution in 23S rRNA.

Detection of Group A Streptococcus from Pharyngeal Swab Samples by Bacterial Culture Is Challenged by a Novel mariPOC Point-of-Care Test.

mariPOC is a novel point-of-care test system for rapid detection of respiratory tract infections. We compared the performance of the mariPOC test to that of bacterial culture for detecting group A streptococcus (GAS) in 219 pharyngitis patients (ages 1-64 years) and 109 healthy asymptomatic controls (ages 19-69 years). In addition, 42 patient samples were analyzed by quantitative PCR (qPCR).

emm typing of invasive T28 group A streptococci, 1995-2004, Finland.

A total of 985 group A streptococcus (GAS) bacteraemia isolates collected in Finland during 1995-2004 were T-serotyped, and of these, 336 isolates of serotype T28 were subjected to further emm typing. The total number of isolates referred per year showed an increase within the study period, from 43 in 1995 to 130 in 2004. The annual incidence of invasive GAS (iGAS) bacteraemia showed a general increase during the study period, from 1.