Laboratory & Pathology: Specimen Collection

TEST

SPECIMEN

C.difficile by PCR

Sterile cup; store at room temp. 24 hours or 5-8°C for 5 days

Stool Culture

Place in Cary-Blair within 2 hours of collection, store room temp.

Ova&Parasites

Place in ParaPak immediately after collection, store room temp.

Crypto/Giardia ag

Preferred specimen -10% formalin (pink vial of the ParaPak)

Cary-Blair specimens are acceptable but may interfere with certain confirmatory test methods

Rotavirus

Minimum 0.5mg stool in sterile cup; store at room temp. 24 hours or 5-8°C for 5 days

Shiga toxin

Place in Cary-Blair within 2 hours of collection, store room temp. Good for 3 days

Blood Culture

Adults: 3-10 ml per bottle (8-10 ml optimal)

Pediatric 0.5-5 ml per bottle (1-3 ml optimal)

Body Fluid Culture

Sterile cup (avoid use of anticoagulants)

CSF Culture

Sterile container; room temp. If multiple tubes of CSF are collected, the first tube shall not be used for microbiological examination

Urine Culture

BD container preferred; if sterile container store at 5-8°C.

Sputum/Bronch

Sterile container; store at 5-8°C

MRSA Screen

Copan Dual Swab only; store room temp.

Chlamydia/GC by DNA

Cepheid GeneXpert female collection swab or

Urine: 20-30ml of urine in sterile cup (no preservatives)

AFB –sputum/bronch

Sterile container; minimum 5ml of specimen needed; store at 5-8°C

AFB –blood

Reference lab test –Sodium heparin tube

AFB –urine

Reference lab test - First morning specimen in a sterile container

AFB -stool

Reference lab - Sterile container

Aerobic culture

tissue, fluid or BD culture swab

Anaerobic culture

Tissue samples, biopsies, or fluids preferred; BD culture swab if necessary