culture of genital fluid (vaginal, urethral, cervical, prostatic)

Indications

• urogenital infection
  • sexually transmitted disease

Specimen

• source
  • vaginal secretions
  • urethral secretions
  • cervical swabs
  • uterine fluid
  • prostatic fluid
• minimum volume: 1 swab or 0.5 mL of fluid
• container:
  • transwab containing Amies transport medium or similar medium for Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Notes

• vaginal swab sample for routine culture should be discouraged, unless a specific pathogen is suspected
• if detection of multiple organisms is requested (i.e. group B Streptococcus, Trichomonas, Chlamydia, Candida) one swab per test should be sent to the lab

More general terms

• culture of body fluid