Specimen Requirements
Preferred: IUD placed in sterile container with sterile saline.
Not preferred: Swab inoculated with infected material from IUD and immersed in gel transport media.
Supplies for Submission
Sterile Container (1)
Storage Requirements
Room Temperature
Specimens are stable if stored at room temperature for under 72 hours. More specifically:
1 day – IUD in saline
1 day – non-gel culturette swab
2 days – gel culturette swab
Causes for Rejections
Specimens with the following conditions are not accepted:
- samples arriving at the referral lab more than 2 days after collection (gel swabs)
- samples arriving at the referral lab more than 1 day after collection (non-gel swabs)
- swabs not submitted in transport media
- swabs submitted in expired transport media, viral transport media, or formalin fixative
- submitted in leaky container or non-sterile container
- dry swabs
- frozen samples