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Anaerobic Transport Media Inoculation Protocol

Obtain Specimen

For bowel:

  • Open 18-26 cm (8-12”) of bowel.
    • Push aside bowel contents with gloved finger or tongue depressor.
    • Swab aggressively over the length of the open bowel, so that the swab presses deeply into mucosa and may even scrape off some mucosa.
      Anaerobic Transport Media
      Anaerobic Transport Media
       
      • Be careful to hold swab shaft only at the end to prevent contamination
  • For solid organs, follow protocol for aseptically collecting bacterial culture swabs from solid tissues
  • Check expiration date on transport media
    • If blue/purple ring more than 3 mm thick at top of media do not use
  • Loosen screw cap
    • Do not tip tube horizontally with cap open. There is an oxygen-excluding gas cap above the semisolid media
  • Insert swab into media once, to ~5mm from bottom
    • Do not pull swab in and out
  • Break or cut swab shaft evenly with lip of tube below the point of hand contact
  • Replace and tighten cap ASAP
    • Do not over tighten
  • Label tube with animal name/number, owner name, date, and site swabbed
  • Hold at room temperature (20-25ºC/68-77ºF) prior to shipping
    • Do not refrigerate
  • Pack and deliver to lab within 72 hr of inoculation
    • Do not chill
  • Protect from temperature extremes in transit
    • Keep at 20-25ºC/68-77ºF)

Other Information

  • Media has a color agent that changes to blue/purple when exposed to oxygen
  • Some blue/purple change will occur after specimen is inserted in the media. This should convert back to normal color due to reducing agents in the media that remove oxygen
  • Aerobic and fungal culture can also be performed from samples in this media

VSS-WEB-001-V02 DL-951 11/17