Specimen Collection and Handling

1. Have patient defecate into a clean container taking care not to contaminate specimen with urine or water.

2. Examine the specimen for blood, mucus, or adult worms, and preferentially sample these sites.

3. If blood or mucus is not present, sample a representative area of the specimen.

4. If adult worms are present, place in separate formalin vial and note their presence on the request form.

5. Place enough stool in both containers to fill to lines on labels.

6. DO NOT fill above the line indicated on the containers.

7. Agitate the specimen with the spoon along side of container(s), tighten cap and shake firmly to insure that that the specimen is adequately mixed.

8. Send at ambient temperature (68 – 86° F or 20 – 32° C) or refrigerated.

9. If 3 stool specimens are requested, they must all be collected within 7 days and should be collected at 48 hour intervals.

10. Specimens collected at intervals less then 24 hours are not acceptable.

11. Patients should avoid use of anti-diarrheal medication (i.e., Pepto Bismol®), antacids, or laxatives within 10 days of collection.

12. The presence of barium will interfere with this test, specimen should be collected before barium is given, or 2 – 3 weeks after.

13. After the administration of antibiotics, a waiting period of two to three weeks should be observed before collecting a specimen.