Specimen Requirements

Specimen must arrive within 2 hours of collection.

Drainage or corneal scraping specimens are acceptable for culture.

1. Collect swabs of conjunctiva before anesthetics are applied.
2. When using sterile swab(s), follow instructions on swab packaging. In some instances, only 1 sterile swab is used to collect specimen. In these instances, discard remaining swab.
3. Two wire-shafted swabs can also be used. Submit wire-shafted swabs in empty swab transport tubes.
4. Corneal scrapings are inoculated directly to culture media/slides as requested by physician. Plated media are inoculated using C streaks. Other media/slides are inoculated by placing specimen directly onto the media/slides.
5. Label swab tube (not packaging) with patient’s information, date and actual time of collection, and type of specimen.

6. Maintain sterility and forward promptly.

Note:  Maximum storage of swab specimens is 24 hours refrigerated. Overnight refrigeration of specimen is not recommended since some of the fastidious organisms that can cause these infections may become non-viable (this will be noted in the report).