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HelpTest Code LAB12000-I Stool Culture - Inpatient
Department
MICROBIOLOGY
Collection Requirements
Feces may be collected in a clean, waxed and well sealed cardboard container, sterile bed pan, or orange Meridian Para-Pak transport vial (send portions with blood, pus or mucous).
Lesions of the rectum or sigmoid colon may be swabbed during proctoscopy or sigmoidoscopy and are preferred to swabs blindly inserted into the rectum.
Liquid stool should be collected in sterile glass or sterile plastic containers.
When multiple cultures ordered, submit one per day.
Submit to lab within 2 hours of collection.
Primary Collection Container
Sterile Container
Alternate Collection Container
Gel Bottom Swab
Transport
Ambient
Preferred Transport Temperature
Ambient
Stability
Ambient:
Sterile container: 2 hours
Para-Pak (Orange): 72 hours
Gel Bottom Swab: 24 hours
Reference Range
No Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, or E. Coli 0157:H7 Isolated
Methodology
Culture
Performed
Sunday – Saturday
Reported
4-5 days
CPT Codes
87045; 87046
Identification, and susceptibility tests are billed separately from culture.
Unacceptable Conditions
Delay in delivery to the lab.
Nonsterile or leaking containers, multiple specimens (more than one in 24 hours), dry specimens, or delayed transport without use of appropriate preservative.
Residual soap, detergent, or disinfectant left in bedpan.
Refrigerated specimens.
Additional Information
Primary organisms that are always looked for: Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobcter, and E. coli O157:H7.
Vibrio sp. and Yersinia sp. are only screened for by special request. Vibrio will be sent out to a reference laboratory, please refer to test directory, “stool culture, vibrio” for order details.
Ova and Parasite and Clostridium difficile are not recovered through routine culture.
Important microorganisms may not survive the drop of pH which occurs with a drop of temperature.