Specimen Requirements
Preferred: Preserved urine in tubes.
Not preferred: Unpreserved urine in a cup, which must be refrigerated and received within 24 hours of collection.
Alternately, refrigerated urine or suprapubic aspirate in syringe with needle removed.
Supplies for Submission
- Urine culture transport tube containing boric acid and sodium formate/borate preservative held at room temperature for up to 48 hours e.g., BD Vacutainer urine culture transport tube - OR -
- Sterile screw capped cup refrigerated for up to 24 hours
Specimen Collection
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here to view urine collection procedure.
Storage Requirements
Refrigerated.
Preserved urine is stable if stored at room temperature for under 48 hours after collection.
However, unpreserved (fresh) urine in a sterile container is stable if refrigerated for 24 hours after collection.
Causes for Rejections
Specimens with the following conditions are not accepted:
- preserved samples arriving at the lab more than 2 days after collection
- unpreserved samples arriving at the lab more than 1 day after collection
- submitted in expired transport media, viral transport media, or formalin fixative
- submitted in leaky container or non-sterile container
- swabs
- frozen or contaminated samples