Sample Collection Kit For Upper Respiratory Tract Infectious Agents

Sample Collection and Preservation Device contains an aqueous storage buffer designed for the rapid cellular lysis and subsequent preservation of nucleic acids from fresh specimens. The buffer prevents the growth of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and fungi, and also inactivates viruses allowing the resulting non-infectious samples to be handled and shipped safely. In addition, the buffer eliminates the need to immediately process or freeze samples and allows the samples to be shipped to centralized testing facilities at ambient temperature. The components of the buffer allow samples to be stored for one week under conditions where RNA/DNA degradation would occur normally. The kit is designed for the rapid lysis and preservation of both DNA and RNA from nasopharyngeal swabs, nasal swabs and throat swabs from human patients with signs and symptoms of upper respiratory infection.

To collect samples, the patient is positioned with their head back at a 45 degree angle. The swab is gently inserted into the nostril until it reaches the posterior nares (naso-pharyngeal area) and is swirled in a circular motion 2 times and held in place for 15 seconds. The cap is disassembled from the sample collection and preservation tube and then the swab is slowly removed from the patient’s nares and inserted into the tube. The swab is swirled in the liquid media and the end of the swab is cut off using scissors and the tube is recapped tightly and labelled with any required information.