Home > Encyclopedia of Medicine > Nasopharyngeal Culture

Definition

A nasopharyngeal culture is used to identify pathogenic (disease causing) organisms present in the nasal cavity that may cause upper respiratory tract symptoms.

Purpose

Some organisms that cause upper respiratory infections are carried primarily in the nasopharynx, or back of the nose. The person carrying these pathogenic bacteria may have no symptoms, but can still infect others with the pathogen and resulting illness. The most serious of these organisms is Neisseriea meningitidis, which causes meningitis or blood stream infection in infants. By culturing a sample from the nasopharynx, the physician can identify this organism, and others, in the asymptomatic carrier. The procedure can also be used as a substitute for a throat culture in infants, the...