HELLO EVERYONE,

I've got gastric flu at such a period of time when SIP is ending soon.

ok here goes.

For my lab, we actually do not look out for Vibrio sp. because the Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. are more common. The Vibrio sp. that I mentioned in the entry is just an example of the few enteric bacteria that can be found in human stool samples when there is a suspected food-bourne illness.

But for Vibrio sp. we use TCBS agar which is green in colour. The biochemical test for the enteric bacteria is using the MICROBACT that Sharon mentioned in one of her entries before. Where the colonies of the suspected species are isolated and then incubated in the different wells of chemicals overnight.

For Salmonella sp. identification and to make sure that there is no contamination, we will use Salmonella typing test where specific Salmonella antisera is used to see if there is any agglutination like the WWF I mentioned before.

My lab only uses Selenite and XLD agar to screen for the enteric bacteria like Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. But as I mentioned to Yvonne, we use TCBS agar for the Vibrio sp. and Alkaline Peptone water. We can also use MaConkey agar because Salmonella sp. are sugar-fermenters (ie LACTOSE) , so there will be a change in the colour if there is growth.

The use of urine is because there might be presence of the same pathogen in the urine since it is all excreted out of the body.

For the other enteric pathogens we do test for them, however for thos Typhiod culture we do not look out for Campylobacter sp. or Vibrio sp.. Yes, my lab uses fresh urine sample as urine is a very good medium for bacteria growth so fresh urine samples are required from the patients and process within 2 hours of collection .

WAH, you really know quite something about HEP A AH. haha, but my microbiology lab do not carry out test for HAV (it is under Biochemistry lab - can try asking Farhana). But the purpose of this Typhiod culture is to screen out the enteric bacteria that might cause food-bourne illness or outbreak to the population that includes you and me. There might be a possibilities of HAV but since enteric bacteria can be screened and removed first, we will terminate all of them!

They have to do this test every 3 months and each time they do it, they have to send in their specimen (stool and urine) for 3 consecutive days. This is to ensure that their samples are consistent and the growth of bacteria should not vary too much.

I am not so sure about the authority thing, but from what I know, there is a scheme for them to undergo such thing and there is a form to fill up. I think its MOH that set-up this thing. heh.

We actually have a protocol for the nurses and health officers attending to the patients to ensure that they collect the samples straight into the container and not poured from another container into the one that we receive. Contamination where the growth of other bacteria like normal skin flora (growth of other coloured colonies). Contamination can be because of the med tech not using sterile inoculating loops to plate on the agar. So there are many causes of contamination and how to ensure there is no contamination, we follow strictly to SOPs.