Skin scraping, nail clipping and wound swabs
How to take skin scrapings, nail clippings and bacterial and viral swabs, how to read microscopy, culture, PCR and susceptibility reports (including MRSA and inducible clindamycin resistance), the yield of each test, and when a result should change treatment.
Tier 2Medical sciences concept
Written with AI assistance and fact-checked against the sources below. For exam study, not clinical decisions. How notes are made
At a glance
- Scrape, clip or swab before long or oral treatment. Many annular rashes and dystrophic nails are not fungal, and many "infected" wounds are colonised.
- Microscopy is fast and answers "is there fungus or a mite?". Culture names the organism and allows susceptibility testing. PCR is fastest and most sensitive for dermatophytes and viruses.
- A swab result is only as good as the site: pus or a deroofed vesicle base is useful, dry intact skin is not.
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Sources
- Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic (skin and soft tissue infections) and Dermatology (fungal infections)AU/NZTherapeutic Guidelines Limited (eTG complete), current eTG edition, accessed November 2026 (topic version not verified)
- National Healthy Skin Guideline: for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of skin infections for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and communities in Australia (2nd edition)AU/NZThe Kids Research Institute Australia and Australian Healthy Skin Consortium, 2nd edition, 2023
- RCPA Manual: superficial fungal microscopy and culture; wound swabAU/NZRoyal College of Pathologists of Australasia, online edition, accessed November 2026
- Ameen M et al. British Association of Dermatologists guideline for managing fungal nail infection (onychomycosis) 2026. Br J Dermatol 2026British Association of Dermatologists, 2026 (replaces the 2014 guideline)
- Last updated
- 14 November 2026
What changed
- 14 November 2026 Personal emails, About story and Australian-style copy