Botulinum – Toxin Assay

• DSHS Epidemiology consultation with physician required
• Must notify BioThreat Team prior to sample submission: (512) 689-5537

• Human
• Environmental
• Food (associated with a positive clinical sample)

• Anaerobic isolate
• Stool
• Gastric
• Water enema
• Serum (no serum on infants)
• Wound swab
• Tissue
• Food (associated with a positive clinical sample)

Feces

• Infant 10 g or 5 mL enema
• Adult 50 g or 5 ml enema

Vomitus or gastric aspirate 

• 20 mL

Serum (no serum on infants)

• 10 mL

Food

• 50 g

Wound swab

• 1 required, 2 preferred

Tissue

• Pea-sized sample

Wound swab, anaerobic culture or tissue

• Maintain at ambient temperature

Serum

• Maintain at 2° to 8°C (refrigerated) unless >48 hours, ship at -20°C (frozen)

All others

• Maintain at 2° to 8°C (refrigerated)

Food

• At existing storage temperature, collected by sanitarian only

Human

• Two patient-specific identifiers required (e.g., patient full name, date of birth, Medical record number)
• Identifiers on specimen must exactly match submission form.

Environmental or Food

• Sample identification must match submission form.

• Ship according to Dangerous Good Regulations, IATA, and/or CFR 49.
• Handled as infectious agent using universal precautions. 
• Triple contained in accordance with federal shipping regulations for infectious agents. 
• See also Emergency Preparedness resources online.
• Notify BioThreat Team prior to sample submission: (512) 689-5537

Improper storage or shipping temperatures may affect toxin detection.

• Insufficient quantity
• Unacceptable specimen type or source
• Improper shipping conditions
• Expired media or collection container
• Discrepancies between specimen label and submission form
• Incomplete or missing submission form