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Test Code LAB223 Stool Culture

Performing Laboratory

Barnes-Jewish Hospital Laboratory

Methodology

Stool is routinely screened for Campylobacter, Escherichia coli O157, Salmonella, Shigella,  Edwardsiella, Aeromonas,  Pleisiomonas, Yersinia, and Shiga- toxin.

Vibrio will be cultured upon request. Indicate on request form or in "Suspected Pathogen field upon electronic order entry.

Susceptibility testing is performed on organisms where it is clinically indicated. All requests for additional susceptibility testing should be directed to the Microbiology Laboratory at 314-362-3898.

Specimen Requirements

Acceptable Specimens:

Stool or rectal swab: 0.3g to 2g of fresh stool in Cary-Blair transport media or 1 rectal ESwab per test request in sterile transport tube. Specimen collected with ESwab Collection Kit is unacceptable if received without fluid or swab in the transport tube.

Note: Hospital Patients: Collect only 1 stool for routine culture as soon as possible after admission.

Note: Hospitalized Patients: Stool cultures will be canceled after hospitalization > 3 days because the cause of diarrhea is much more likely to be hospital-acquired rather than a community-acquired infection.

 

Collection Procedure:

Note: Specimen source is required.

1. Stool
A. Select portions of fresh stool containing blood or mucous.
B. Submit in Cary-Blair transport media
C. Maintain sterility and forward promptly at ambient temperature only.

2. Rectal swab
A. Pass ESwab beyond rectal sphincter.
B. Rotate ESwab and withdraw.
C. Return ESwab into transport tube following instructions on kit.
D. Maintain sterility and forward promptly at ambient temperature only.

Day(s) Set Up

Monday through Sunday

Test Classification and CPT Coding

87045-Culture, stool (if appropriate)
87046-Culture, stool, additional pathogen (if appropriate)

87899-Shiga toxin (if appropriate)

  1.  

87181-Susceptibility, agar diffusion (if appropriate)

87184-Susceptibility, disk diffusion (if appropriate)

Reference Values

Not applicable

 

Literature Reference:

Carroll, Karen, et. al. Manual of Clinical Microbiology, 13th edition. ASM Press. Washington, D.C. 2023

Specimen Transport Temperature

Ambient

Additional Information

Laboratory Processing Instructions:
Test performed in BJH Microbiology.