Capture of Group A Streptococcus by Open-Microfluidic CandyCollect Device in Pediatric Patients.

State The Purpose: Obtaining high-quality samples to diagnose streptococcal pharyngitis in pediatric patients is challenging due to discomfort associated with traditional pharyngeal swabs. This may cause reluctance to go to the clinic, inaccurate diagnosis, or inappropriate treatment for children with sore throat. Here, we determined the efficacy of CandyCollect, a lollipop-inspired open-microfluidic pathogen collection device, to capture Group A Streptococcus (GAS) and compare user preference for CandyCollect, conventional pharyngeal swabs, or mouth swabs in children with pharyngitis and their caregivers.

Results: All child participants (30/30) were positive for GAS by qPCR on both the mouth swab and CandyCollect. Caregivers ranked CandyCollect as a good sampling method overall (27/30), and all caregivers (30/30) would recommend CandyCollect for children 5 years and older. Twenty-three of 30 children "really like" the taste and 24/30 would prefer to use CandyCollect if a future test were needed. All caregivers (30/30) and most children (28/30) would be willing to use CandyCollect at home.

Conclusion: All participants tested positive for GAS on all three collection methods (pharyngeal swab, mouth swab, and CandyCollect). While both caregivers and children like CandyCollect, some caregivers would prefer a shorter collection time. Future work includes additional studies with larger cohorts presenting with pharyngitis of unknown etiology and shortening collection time while maintaining the attractive form of the device.

Translational Impact Statement: Obtaining oral samples for the diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis is of great importance for children. To address the challenges associated with traditional pharyngeal swab sampling, we developed the CandyCollect device, a lollipop-inspired open mesofluidic saliva sampling system. In this study, saliva samples were collected from children, aged 5-14 years, with CandyCollect and mouth swabs and analyzed via qPCR. The results show CandyCollect is the child preferred collection tool and had 100% concordance with the results from traditional diagnosis methods as part of their clinical care.