| Patient Preparations: |
Collect pea-sized piece of tissue and/or 5-30 ml of secretions. Add a small amount of sterile distilled water to lung tissue if necessary to prevent drying. Do not use sterile saline for specimen collection as Legionella sp. are inhibited by saline. |
| Specimen Requirements: |
Lung tissue, pleural fluid, transtracheal aspirate, lower respiratory secretions (sputum, bronchial wash etc.) |
| Specimen Handling & Transport: |
Specimens should be held at 2-8C and tissues should not be allowed to dry out.
Transport with a frozen cool pack. |
| Collection Kit/Container: |
TB Sputum/Legionella
|
| Collection Instructions: |
Collect each specimen in sterile leak-proof container. Primary specimens can be stored at 2-8°C until transport and transported with a cool pack. Primary specimens must be tested within 3 days of collection per CDC guidance. If specimens will not be tested for 3 or more days, they should be stored at -20°C until ready for shipment and shipped on dry ice. |
| Unacceptable Conditions: |
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| Requisition Form: |
CDD Requisition Form A
|
| Required Information: |
Laboratory regulations require the following minimum information to be provided on the requisition form for a specimen to be accepted for testing: Patient name or unique identifier; date and time of collection, patient date of birth and sex, specimen type/site of collection, test request(s), clinician name and UPIN, and address for reporting results. Please be certain that name/identifier on the form matches that on the specimen label. |
