Special Bacteriology
Brief Description
The Bacteriology Unit accepts reference cultures from public and private health care providers for the identification, confirmation, and/or serotyping of bacterial isolates. This includes a wide variety of aerobic, and facultative organisms isolated from clinical sources. Isolates should be submitted as pure cultures. Techniques used in the identification process include a combination of some or all the following: cellular and colonial morphology, conventional biochemical tests, Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption-Time of Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry, PCR and 16S sequencing.
Laboratory Unit
Bacteriology
Methodology
- Biochemicals
- Serotyping
- MALDI –TOF
- Latex agglutination
- PCR
- 16S rDNA sequencing
Specimen Collection
Pure Isolate:
Collect in commercially available slant (Chocolate agar slant, blood agar slant, Tryptic soy agar slant).
Storage/Transport
Cultures can be maintained at room temperature (15-30°C) during transit as soon as possible after collection.
Acceptable Specimen Type(s)
Pure Isolate
Test Request
- GPHL Apollo Web Portal
-
Web
Portal Instructions
- For manual orders, download the
GPHL
Submission Form
Possible Results
- Organisms are identified to the genus and species.
- Non-viable culture
- Unsatisfactory
Reference Range
N/A
Unacceptable Conditions
- Missing testing requisition
- Missing minimum of 2 patient identifiers
- Improper labeling
- Improper storage/transport of specimen
- No specimen received (empty collection tube).
- Wrong specimen type
- Specimens damaged, broken, or leaking upon arrival non-viable cultures: all cultures received will be sub-cultured upon receipt.
- Cultures overgrown with contaminants
- Specimens improperly collected or submitted
Interfering Substances
N/A
Result Reported
3-5 business days
Fees
LOINC/Order Codes
6463-4 (Order code: 1130)