Culture swabs and tissues must be kept moist in Viral or Chlamydia Transport Media, M4 or M5. Specimens must not be leaking.
Body fluids and wash specimens for viral culture should be transported in sterile containers, without dilution in transport media.
Body fluids for Chlamydia culture; add no more than 0.5 mL fluid into Chlamydia Transport medium, M4 or M5.
In general, most acute infections are diagnosed by isolating the agent from the patient (Viral or Chlamydia culture). In selected instances, e.g., Hepatitis A, Rubella, determination of IgM antibodies can be useful. An increase in antibody titer suggests recent infection, and thus workup requires acute and convalescent sera. Serologies requiring paired sera are as follows:
- Mumps titer
- Respiratory syndrome viruses
- Measles titer
- Pericarditis/CNS syndrome viruses
- VZV titer
- Chlamydiae pneumoniae(4 weeks)
Cerebrospinal fluids (CSF) for antibody determinations MUST be paired with a concurrent serum specimen. We recommend PCR sampling for CNS infections over antibody determinations.
Single sera are appropriate for a serostatus screen or to determine evidence of past infection or immunization for: CMV, EBV, Hepatitis (A,B,C), HHV-8, HIV-1, HSV 1 and 2 (Type specific), Measles, Mumps, Parvovirus B19, Rubella, VZV, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Chlamydia trachomatis.
Appropriate specimens for PCR vary depending on the assay.
Culture Swabs
Dacron or cotton swabs are recommended for Viral cultures (Microdiagnostics, Inc. cotton and dacron blend swabs are best). Calcium alginate (“calgiswabs”) are inhibitory to Herpes simplex virus and should NOT be used for Viral culture collection.
Dacron and dacron-cotton blend swabs from Puritan (Hardwood Products Corp., Maine) are recommended for Chlamydia culture. Cytobrushes are recommended for the collection of endocervical Chlamydia cultures on non-pregnant women. Do NOT use swabs with wooden sticks or calcium alginate swabs for Chlamydia cultures – they inhibit growth of the organism.
Transport Media
Viral Transport Media (VTM), C. trachomatis culture medium (CTM, M4 or M5), Chlamydia culture transport media contain different antibiotics and CAN NOT be interchanged. VTM, CTM and CPM are stored at -20°C and must be thawed before use. M4 and M5 media are stored at refrigeration temperature. The shelf life of VTM is one year at -20°C and six months at 4°C. Chlamydia trachomatis Transport Media has a shelf life of six months at -20°C and two months at 4°C.Chlamydia pneumoniae Transport Media has a shelf life of one year at -20°C and two months at 4°C.