Extraction of nucleic acids
Total nucleic acids were obtained from 200-μL samples of pharyngeal
exudate, taken with a Dacron swab (Copan Diagnostics, Corona,
California, Catalogue: 159C), stored in viral transport medium (BD™
Universal Viral Transport System, East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA
Catalogue: 220220) at -80 °C until use. For the extraction of total
nucleic acids, the automated system MagNA Pure LC 2.0 (Roche
Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany) and the MagNA Pure LC Kit (Roche
Diagnostics, cat. No. 03038505001) were used according to the
manufacturer’s instructions.