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Saliva-controlled sputum culture aids diagnosis of deep pulmonary infections

Key clinical point: Using saliva controls distinguishes oropharyngeal flora from pulmonary fungi, preserving deep pulmonary samples.

Major finding: Hard to get sputum specimens do not need to be rejected; this expedites accurate diagnosis of the deepest fungal lung infections.

Study details: Compared analysis of sputum plus saliva and saliva controlled fungal outgrowth samples from infected patients.

Disclosures: The author declared that there were no conflicts of interest.

Citation:

Gitelman I. Journal of Microbiological Methods. 2020; doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2020.105986.