Clinical Bacteriology Tests
The following table has a listing of many of the organisms processed by this team. The average turnaround time stated is with the understanding that clinical specimens are high priority, and in the event of outbreak situations, the pure cultures referred for identification or confirmation will be delayed until outbreak activities are concluded.
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- A -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Aeromonas species |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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Afipia species (Cat Scratch Fever) |
Identification |
Pure culture on blood or chocolate agar slant |
12-21 days |
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Isolation and identification |
Blood, tissue |
12-21 days |
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- B -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Bacillus species |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
10-14 days |
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Bacillus cereus |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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Bordetella pertussis (Pertussis) |
Identification |
Pure culture on Regan-Lowe or Bordet-Gengou agar slant |
Negative 10 days Positive 4-6 days, results called |
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Isolation from clinical specimen |
Nasopharyngeal swab in Regan-Lowe transport, ≤ 3 days may be shipped ambient, > 3 days ship on wet ice |
Negative 10 days, positive 4-6 days called to submitter |
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Bartonella (Cat Scratch fever) |
Identification |
Pure culture on blood or chocolate agar slant |
12-21 days |
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Isolation from clinical specimens |
Blood or tissue, frozen at -70˚C and shipped on dry ice or refrigerated at 4˚C and shipped on wet ice. (SPS is toxic to some Bartonella) |
negative 21 days positive 12-21 days |
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- C -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Campylobacter |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar blood or chocolate slant, campy gas pack |
4-7 days |
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Isolation from clinical specimen |
Stool specimen in Cary-Blair, on wet ice packs Blood in blood culture bottle |
Negative 3-5 days Positive 3-7 days |
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Corynebacterium species |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-10 days |
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Corynebacterium diphtheriae |
Identification, and toxin testing |
Pure culture on agar slant, preferably Loeffler’s |
4-7 days |
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Isolation and identification |
Swab in Stuart’s transport, Aime's transport, silica gel, or on Loeffler’s slant |
2-5 days Positive results called to submitter |
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Chlamydia trachomatis |
Genetic probe |
Swab in GENPROBE transport tube |
2-4 days |
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Amplified Genetic probe *Limited at present to approved sites |
Urine, room temp- 24 hour transport; refrigerated 25-76 hr transport |
2-4 days |
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- E -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Escherichia coli |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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Escherichia coli O157:H7 |
Identification and Serotyping; Shiga toxin testing |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days Serologically O157:H7 results called to submitter |
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Isolation, identification, and serotyping; Shiga toxin testing |
Stool specimen in Cary-Blair, Aimes, or Stuart's transport, in broth or McCorkey broth on wet ice packs |
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Shiga toxin producing E. coli (EHEC) |
Identification and Serotyping; Shiga toxin testing |
Pure culture on agar slant |
7-10 days; referred to CDC if necessary Positive toxin results called to submitter |
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Isolation, identification, and serotyping; Shiga toxin testing |
Stool specimen in Cary-Blair, Aimes, or Stuart's transport, on wet ice packs; Stool specimens on broth or McCorkey broth, < 7 days old on wet ice packs, > 7 days old on dry ice |
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Enterococcus species |
Identification and serotyping; Antimicrobial susceptibility testing for Vancomycin resistance (Epidemiological data only) |
Pure culture on agar slant. |
4-10 days |
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- F -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Fastidious gram negative or gram positive rods |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
14-21 days |
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- H -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Haemophilus influenzae |
Identification and serotyping |
Pure culture on Chocolate agar slant |
4-7 days |
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Haemophilus ducreyi |
Identification |
Pure culture on chocolate agar slant |
10-14 days |
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Identification |
Lesion scrapings, urogenital swab from infected area, transported on wet ice |
Negative 21 days Positive 7-21 days |
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- L -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Legionella species |
Identification and DFA |
Pure culture on BCYE slant |
4-7 days |
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Isolation and identification |
Sputum, bronchial washings, tracheal aspirates, lung biopsy, shipped on wet ice |
Culture: Negative 15 days Positive 3-15 days called to submitter |
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Listeria species |
Identification |
Pure cultures on non-glucose containing agar slants |
4-7 days |
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Isolation and identification |
Blood, CSF, amniotic fluid, placental tissue, fetal tissue; shipped on wet ice within 48 hours of collection |
Negative 21 days Positive 5-14 days called to submitter |
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- N -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Neisseria gonorrhoeae |
Identification , antimicrobial susceptibility studies to ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, tetracycline, and penicillin ( for epidemiological studies only) |
Pure cultures on chocolate agar slants |
4-7 days |
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Isolation and identification, antimicrobial susceptibility studies to ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, tetracycline, and penicillin ( for epidemiological studies only) |
Throat, rectum, or other non-urogenital sites, or urogenital swabs on suspected sexual abuse cases submitted on Thayer-Martin, transgrow, or Martin-Lewis media |
3-7 days |
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Neisseria meningitidis |
Identification and serotyping |
Pure cultures (isolated from sterile sites) on blood or chocolate agar slants |
3-7 days Group C called to submitter |
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- P -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Pasteurella species |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
7-14 days |
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Plesiomonas shigelloides |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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- S -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Staphylococcus aureus |
Identification, Antimicrobial susceptibility testing for Vancomycin resistance (for epidemiological purposes only), TSST-1 toxin for Toxic Shock syndrome |
Pure culture on agar slant. |
3-7 days Toxin positive results called to submitter |
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Isolation and Identification |
Stool specimens on wet ice (Outbreak situations only) |
2-4 days |
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Streptococcus Group A |
Identification, serogrouping |
Pure cultures on agar slants |
3-7 days |
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Isolation and Identification, and serogrouping |
Throat swabs in Stuart's or Aime's transport. (Outbreak situations only) |
2-4 days |
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Streptococcus Group B |
Identification, serogrouping |
Pure cultures on agar slants |
3-7 days |
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Isolation, identification, and serogrouping |
Vaginal swabs |
2-4 days Positive results called to submitter |
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- V -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Vibrio cholerae O1 |
Identification and seortyping |
Pure culture on agar slant |
2-7 days Positive called to submitter within 48 hours |
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Isolation, identification, and serotyping |
Stool specimen in Cary-Blair on wet ice |
2-10 days Positive called to submitter |
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Vibrio cholerae non-O1 |
Identification and seortyping |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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Isolation, identification, and serotyping |
Stool specimen in Cary-Blair on wet ice |
2-7 days Positive called to submitter |
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Vibrio parahaemolyticus |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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Vibrio vulnificus |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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Vibrio sp. |
Identification |
Pure culture on agar slant |
4-7 days |
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- Y -
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Organism |
Testing offered |
What and How to Submit |
Expected turnaround time for results |
Additional Information |
Yersinia enterocolitica and other species |
Identification |
Pure cultures on agar slants |
4-7 days |
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Isolation, identification |
Stool in Cary-Blair, Stuart, or Aime's transport, on wet ice |
4-7 days |