Fungal culture, fluid (Calgary/South)
- Test Name:
- Fungal culture, fluid (Calgary/South)
- Body Source(s):
-
Amniotic/amniocentisis fluid
Aspirate fluid
Fluid - pericardial
Fluid - peritoneal dialysate
Fluid - pleural/thoracentesis/empyema
Fluid, abdominal
Fluid, drainage
Fluid, joint - native/bursa/synovial
-
Clinical Prerequisite(s):
-
For Bone marrow culture, refer to: Bone marrow culture (Calgary/South)
Provision of relevant, clinical information is important to ensure a clinically relevant result
Always provide/record:
• specimen source
• current antibiotic therapy, start date, route, and dose
• clinical history - symptoms and start date
• Is the specimen associated with prosthetic material/hardware?
• If collected from a drain, indicate:
- type (eg, biliary tube (T-tube), chest tube, G-tube, Jackson-Pratt (JP), Penrose
- whether the drain has been in place for >24 hours before collection
- Collection Device/Tube Type:
-
*Preferred: 60 mL sterile, plastic container
10 mL sterile tube
- Comments:
-
Alternate collection device:
• Sterile tube containing SPS
Note: DO NOT submit fluid in a syringe, with or without the needle. Specimens are likely to leak and those with needles attached are a laboratory hazard
- Specimen Requirement(s):
-
Optimal fluid volume: 15-25 mL
Minimum volume: 1-5 mL
DO NOT submit specimens in containers containing microbial inhibitory substances such as heparin, EDTA, citrate. Results may not be reliable.
Tubes/tips are not suitable for cultures
Ensure containers are sealed. Do not submit leaking specimens
- Collection Instructions:
-
- Handling and Storage:
-
*Room Temperature
DO NOT refrigerate
- Handling/Storage Comments:
-
Submit to the testing laboratory (DSC Microbiology) as soon as possible after collection
- Rejection Criteria:
-
Mislabelled or unlabelled specimen/requisition
- Turnaround Times
- See Microbiology Information»
- Comments:
-
Wherever possible, fluid specimens should be submitted for culture
Submission of a swab of a sterile fluid is strongly discouraged and should only occur if there is an extremely low quantity of fluid
- Last Reviewed:
- 19 May 2023
