Specimen Requirements

Optimal times for specimen collection must be based upon both the type of infectious disease process and ability of laboratory to expertly process specimens. The Microbiology Laboratory is not as well staffed during evening and late night hours. Specimens collected late in the evening often do not produce adequate growth by next morning. STAT testing is available at all times for critical tests including blood cultures, body fluid Gram stains, etc.

Specimen must arrive within 30 minutes of collection.

1. Lift toilet seat, and cover toilet bowl with a large sheet of plastic wrap. Make a depression in plastic wrap. With toilet seat lowered, pass stool specimen directly onto plastic wrap. Do not contaminate with urine. (Rectal swab is not acceptable.)

2. Place 1 g of diarrheal (liquid or loose) stool in a screw-capped, sterile container/stool cup.

3. Alternatively, collect stool specimen in a sterile, dry, wide-mouth container. Do not use toilet paper to collect specimen. Do not remove specimen from toilet water.

4. Specimen may also be collected in an ova and parasite (O&P) collection vial(s). Follow instructions accompanying the vial(s) for collection procedure.
5. Label container/stool cup/vial(s) with patient’s name, physician’s name, date and time collected, initials of collector, and specimen source.

6. Place container/stool cup/vial(s) in biohazard transport bag.

7. Maintain sterility and forward promptly.

Note:  1. Specimen source is required on request form for processing.

2. Contamination of stool specimen with urine or barium is not acceptable.

3. Maximum storage for fresh specimens is 2 hours at ambient temperature or 24 hours refrigerated for antigen testing. Maximum storage for specimens in an O&P vial at ambient temperature is 2 months or until expiration date on vial(s), whichever is earlier. Routinely, only 1 stool specimen per day should be collected for O&P testing. After third hospital day, it is generally recommended that Clostridium difficile toxin testing be performed on patients with diarrhea, not O&P testing. Specimens will not be processed if transport/storage requirements are exceeded. This will be noted in the report.