Stool Culture - Enteric Bacterial PCR

Test Name	Bacterial Enteric PCR
Alternate Name(s)
Laboratory Module	Microbiology
Ordering Mnemonic	STOOL A thorough patient history, including symptoms, time of onset, age, travel history, food consumption and antimicrobial treatment is necessary to determine which pathogens to look for. The Lab routinely screens for Campylobacter jejuni, E.coli 0157:H7, Salmonella, Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli, Shigella and Yersinia enterocolitica. Inpatients (in hospital 72 hours or more) will not be processed should be ordered as C. difficile toxin. Only one sample per day is permitted, all others will be rejected unless approval from the microbiology department is arranged.
Specimen Type	Stool
Collection Container	Enteric Plus Transport Media (ETM) Para-Pak Enteric Plus
Container Information
Collection Information	Avoid the use of mineral oil, bismuth, Milk of Magnesia, antacids, compounds containing Kaolin or barium prior to collection. Avoid contamination with urine. Have patient pass stool onto a clean, dry bedpan. Transfer a portion of stool containing mucous, blood or pus into enteric transport media. Do NOT use toilet paper to transfer stool. Select areas of stool that appear blood-stained, purulent or watery. Transfer this to enteric transport media (labeled Enteric Plus). Thoroughly mix 5 mL of stool with the 20 mL of fixative (1:4 ratio).
Test Schedule	Tuesday and Friday
Routine Turnaround Time	24 hours -72 hours
Stat Turnaround Time	24 hours - 72 hours
Reference Interval
Critical Values	Preliminary result will be available to Health care provider upon Enteric Pathogen gene detection by PCR assay. As growth is detected and identified the information is made available to the health care provider.
Lab Process Notes	Specimen must be received within 48hours of collection. Detection of Enteric Pathogen by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is more sensitive than by stool culture method. This molecular screen enables accurate reporting of negative specimens. PCR positive results will be confirmed by Stool Culture. PCR positive result but Stool culture negative result may represent current infection, past infection, colonization or false positive PCR and will require clinical correlation.
Storage and Transport	The specimen should remain at room temperature, and transported to the lab where it will store at -20 degree C.
Test Referred To	On site, BGH laboratory