Angina test in pharmacies: price, age of child, without prescription?

Available in pharmaciesthe TROD rapid tests aim to detect whether angina is viral or bacterial, which allows you to know whether or not we need antibiotic treatment. Painless and quick, these tests are covered up to 70% by Health Insurance. They can also be made free during a medical consultation (general practitioner, pediatrician or ENT) when the doctor has doubts about a possible bacterial tonsillitis (possible presence of a streptococci hence the name “Streptotest”). If the test is positive, the patient needs antibiotic treatment. Today, the pharmacist must refer the patient to their doctor so that he can issue the prescription. But soon – according to a measure included in the 2024 Social Security Financing Bill – pharmacists could dispense antibiotics without a prescription to a patient with angina.

How to do an angina test at the pharmacy? At what age ?

You can do a TROD test in a pharmacy, in the absence of prior consultation (therefore without prescription) :

1. After visually examining the patient’s throat, the pharmacist performs a sample from the tonsils with a large cotton swab (called a swab)
2. He places the swab in a tube into which he puts a few drops of liquid reagent and rotates it, pressing the swab against the walls of the tube.
3. He then immerses a strip in the tube which turns colored after 5 to 10 minutes.

In pharmacyTROD tests are possible for children over 10 years old and in adults (except for patients at risk of immunosuppression (patient living with HIV, patient under immunosuppressive treatment, including long-term corticosteroid therapy and cancer undergoing chemotherapy), febrile pregnant patients (temperature >38°C), patients with over 70 years old with temperature > 38°C, similar episode of sore throat treated recently (< 1 month) with an antibiotic based on the patient declaration. The latter should not do a TROD test in a pharmacy and should contact immediately to their doctor). At the doctorthe TROD test can be performed at children from 3 years old. Before the age of 3, the test is considered useless because bacterial angina is rarer. For adults, the doctor judges whether a TROD test is useful after examining the patient. In all cases, this test must be carried out before starting to take antibiotics. If the person has already consulted their doctor and the latter has not been able to carry out Trod angina during the consultation, they can give their patientt a “conditional” order which will allow, in the event of a positive test carried out at the pharmacy, the provision of antibiotic treatment.

What is the TROD Angina test used for?

The rapid diagnostic orientation test for angina (TROD angina) allows diagnose the type of angina presented by the patient. In other words, it allows you to know in a few minutes whether the angina is viral (most common in adults and children) or bacterial (most often due to group A streptococcus). Its purpose serves to limit the prescription of unnecessary antibiotics because only bacterial tonsillitis requires treatment with antibiotics while most tonsillitis are 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 tonsillitis represented 25 to 40% cases in children, and only, 10 to 25% in adults.

The TROD test for angina is not always useful. It is only indicated in cases of sore throat suggestive of angina. (irritation, burning of the throat, difficulty swallowing particularly solid foods, swelling of the lymph nodes in the neck, etc.). However, the TROD test is NOT indicated in cases of symptoms suggestive of a cold characterized by cough, runny and nasal obstruction, whether or not there is associated pharyngeal pain and redness of the throat.

How to read the results of a TROD test?

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

→ A line: the test is negative. It is viral angina which does not require treatment with antibiotics.

→ Two traits: the test is positive. Angina is caused by group A streptococcus bacteria and treatment with antibiotics is necessary. The pharmacist directs you to your doctor so that he can issue the prescription.

What is the price ? Is it reimbursed?

At a general practitioner, pediatrician or ENT, the TROD test for angina is free. When performed in a pharmacy, the TROD test costs between 6 and 7 euros and is reimbursed up to 70% by Health Insurance (the remaining 30% is covered by your complementary health insurance).

Sources: A test now possible in pharmacies to find out the origin of angina, Published on October 21, 2023 – Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister) / Health Insurance website (January 26, 2021) / Site of the Regional Union of Health Professionals – Pharmacists of Ile-de-France.