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J. Clin. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/JCM.02047-07
Copyright (c) 2008, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved.

Comparison of the Copan ESwab with Two Amies Agar Swab Transport Systems for Maintenance of Microorganism Viability

Focus Diagnostics, Cypress, CA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: kvanhorn{at}focusdx.com.

	Abstract

Swab transport systems are used for a variety of specimen types and must maintain organism viability throughout the transport process. The Copan ESwab is a new nylon-flocked swab designed to optimize specimen collection and minimize entrapment of the specimen. We used the quantitative elution method with recommended strains as described in CLSI M40-A to evaluate the ESwab, for maintenance of viability of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms for 0, 6, 24, and 48 h during room temperature and refrigerated temperature storage. The Becton Dickinson CultureSwab MaxV swab and the Remel BactiSwab were used as comparators. The ESwab met CLSI acceptance criteria for all aerobic isolates stored at both temperatures, and for all anaerobic isolates stored at refrigerated temperature. The ESwab also met CLSI criteria for four of five anaerobic strains at room temperature: Prevotella melinogenica was not recovered after 24 or 48 h room temperature storage with any of the three swab transport systems tested. Overall, the ESwab was equivalent to the Becton Dickinson CultureSwab MaxV swab in organism recovery, but recovered more isolates than the Remel BactiSwab.