The quality of the collected samples is directly related to the subsequent testing. If improper collection tools and preservation liquids are used, the collected samples have a low viral load and gradually decompose as the survival microenvironment changes, which can easily cause wrong test results and make it difficult to confirm the diagnosis. Therefore, special viral transportation medium tubes are used to ensure the validity of the samples and reduce false negatives.
The ability to maintain the activity of the virus at room temperature.
Meet the sample collection time to laboratory testing.
Maintain the integrity of the virus antigen and nucleic acid.
The need to limit or prevent the proliferation of commensal microorganisms to ensure the reliability of diagnostic tests.
The need to maintain the activity of pathogenic infection factors.
viral transportation medium tubes are loaded with infectious substances, some even highly pathogenic susceptible substances, therefore, the requirements for packaging containers are very demanding, and should also meet the safety requirements:
Safety of storage: to ensure that the sample does not leak during storage.
Safety in transport: to ensure that the sample does not leak during transport.
The swab head should be made of synthetic Cotton fibers, not cotton or calcium alginate sponge.
The material of the swab handle is recommended to use hollow polystyrene (PS) extruded tube or polypropylene (PP) injection indentation tube, not wooden sticks or bamboo sticks, etc. Because the wooden stick or bamboo swab containing calcium alginate and wooden components will adsorb protein after breaking and soaking in the preservation solution, and even have an interfering effect on the subsequent test, the fiber of cotton has stronger adsorption of protein and is not easily eluted.
The length of the swab should not be too short and the fracture position should not be too close to the head of the swab to avoid contamination of the patient's body fluid during operation.
The fracture point should be reasonably positioned to match the risk of contamination caused by the outflow of liquid from the tube when the sampling tube is broken.
There are two main types of preservation solutions in widespread use: one is a modified virus maintenance solution based on transport medium, and the other is a modified lysis solution based on nucleic acid extraction lysate. Since the collected samples may subsequently involve a variety of testing methods, not only for nucleic acid extraction of viruses but also for virus culture, isolation and antigen detection, etc.
It is recommended to choose a virus maintenance solution, which can maintain the originality of the sample to the greatest extent possible so that it can be used for a variety of assays. However, it is important to note that regardless of the type of reservoir chosen, the tubes should be strictly inactivated prior to testing.
It is advisable to use polyethylene - propylene polymer (Polyallomer) plastic and some special treatment of polypropylene (PP), polycarbonate (PC) plastic, and other containers, which need to be airtight, resistant to high and low temperatures, and can be suitable for a variety of inactivation methods.
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