Skin swab- confused, please help!

[Emptybrain]

This is probably a stupid question but Im not at all sciencey and just don’t understand it!

can a skin swab detect the presence of drugs?

So for example, if a doctor swabbed the area of infected skin with a long cotton bud thing and sent it for testing, what actually happens? Does it get tested for drugs as well or just for bacteria etc?

Context- i had a superficial skin infection swabbed to check what’s growing in it and my doctor clearly didn’t believe I had taken the previous treatment properly as the infection was still there hence why they swabbed it. It was an antibiotic eye drop and antibiotic tablets. I last used the treatment just before the appointment. Will the swab show the presence of them in my system? Or is the swab not even checked for drugs etc? Just curious!

tia!

Should have added; it was a skin swab so a long cotton bud thing. The swabbed sample they got was off the pus/blood coming out the infected skin. They didn’t take a blood test but there was blood on the swab if that makes sense

No a swab is just for mc&s which grows the bacteria to find out what antibiotic it is sensitive to.

Sorry excuse my ignorance but what does mc&s mean? I stupidly assumed the the swab would be put into a machine and the results for everything (bacteria, drugs etc) would show up on it, I obviously know even less than I first thought!

www.leedsth.nhs.uk/a-z-of-services/pathology/test-and-tubes/microbiology/mcands-culture-swabs#:~:text=Culture%20and%20sensitivity%20of%20swabs,and%20determine%20appropriate%20antibiotic%20sensitivity.

(MC&S - Microscopy, culture and sensitivity)

I got swabbed for drugs last time I went through an airport.

They won't have been checking for the presence of antibiotics though...

It is a fairly standard part of the procedure for treating infections. The first step is usually to prescribe a common broad spectrum antibiotic which would deal with most infections. If there was no improvement, a swab is taken to identify the specific type of bacteria. This is the only reason for the swab. The results will allow a more targeted drug to be prescribed, or in rare cases, the results may suggest a bacteria that is resistant to the normal antibiotic so an alternative antibiotic to which the bacteria may succumb can be tried.

They rub the swab onto petri dishes (those small round glass tubs with a sort of jelly substance in it) and see what type of bacteria grows. Then they will put antibiotics on whatever has grown and see which antibiotic is most effective at killing the bacteria so they know what antibiotic to prescribe to you. They wouldn't test for drugs