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Test Code LAB223 Stool Culture

Performing Lab

Arnot Ogden Medical Center

Ordering Recommendations

Determining whether a bacterial enteric pathogen is the cause of diarrhea.

Collect

  • Fresh Feces
  • Rectal Swabs
  • Duodenal, Colostomy, or Ileostomy specimens
  • Rectal Biopsy Specimens

Collection Device

  • Fresh stool samples should be immediately transfered into the C&S Cary Blair vial (yellow cap with red liquid inside).
  • Unpreserved specimens in a sterile container (must be received in lab within 2 hours).
  • Rectal Biopsy specimens may be placed into a sterile container with a small amount of sterile water.

 

Stability (from collection to initiation)

Unpreserved 2 hours
Preserved (C&S Cary Blair medium) 96 hours

 

Storage/Transport Temperature

Room temperature, DO NOT refrigerate.

Methodology

Conventional Culture (Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia, Campylobacter, E coli O157)
Lateral flow EIA: Shiga Toxin 1 and Shiga Toxin 2

Start Date

9/13/2017

Last Review Date

6/24/2025

Specimen Handling

Room temperature, DO NOT refrigerate.

Collection Instructions

Preferred:

  • Pass specimen into a clean dry container.
  • Transfer a sufficent amount of sample that displaces to the fill line on the yellow top preservative container. (C&S Cary Blair medium)
    • Note: do not over fill transport container.
    • Note: do not use toilet paper to collect stool, as it may contain agents that are inhibitory to some fecal pathogens.
    • Note: specimen should not be mixed with urine.
    • Note: Fresh stool (unpreserved) in a clean container is also acceptable, but must be transported immediately and processed within 2 hours of collection.

Alternate:

  • Pass the tip of a sterile swab approximately 1 inch beyond the anal sphincter.
  • Carefully rotate the swab to sample.
  • withdraw swab. 

Note:

  • Two or three specimens collected on separate days will increase the probability of pathogen recovery.
  • Only one specimen per day will be accepted for culture.
  • Specimens collected from patients that have been hospitalized more than 3 days will not be accepted. These specimens yield little useful clinical information. Consider testing for C. difficile.

Remarks

  • Susceptibility testing will be performed for significant isolates.
  • Pathogens identified by this method include Salmonella species, Shigella species, Campylobacter species, Yersinia species, Vibrio species, E. coli O157, Aeromonas, and Plesiomonas, Shiga toxin 1 and Shiga Toxin 2.
  • C. difficile toxin will not be detected by this method.
  • Any unpreserved stool samples received in the laboratory more than two hours after collection will NOT be processed.
  • Only one Stool sample per day will be accepted.
  • Rectal biopsies in formalin will NOT be processed.
  • This order does not include a gram stain. Requests for fecal leukocytes must be ordered seperately.

 

Notes

  • Susceptibility testing will be performed for significant isolates.
  • Pathogens identified by this method include Salmonella species, Shigella species, Campylobacter species, Yersinia species, Vibrio species, E. coli O157, Aeromonas, Plesiomonas, Shiga Toxin 1 and Shiga Toxin 2.
  • C. difficile toxin will not be detected by this method.
  • Any unpreserved stool samples received in the laboratory great that two hours of collection will NOT be processed.
  • Only one Stool sample per day will be accepted.
  • Rectal biopsies in formalin will NOT be processed.
  • This order does not include a gram stain. Requests for fecal leukocytes must be ordered seperately.

 

 

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