1. Virus Collection and Preservation System
A virus collection and preservation system is designed to collect, store and transport total nucleic acids from different samples. It contains Norgen’s Swab Preservative in a liquid form. Those collecting the specimen are supposed to put the swab in a swab preservative to prevent Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacteria’s growth. It has two types: Type 1 and Type 2.
2. What are the Virus Collection and Preservation System Components?
The virus collection and preservation system components are as follows:
Flocked Swabs
It is innovative embedded nylon that is important for improving the patient’s sample collection efficiency. The nylon is usually placed on a swab tip to make it easy to collect the specimen and improve analytical sensitivity.
Virus Storage Tube
The virus storage tube is made of medical-grade polypropylene to ensure no deformation, and it can bear static extrusion and dynamic impact. It has a tapered bottom designed to make it bear centrifugation and shaking. It is also leakage-proof to ensure the sample is safe and secure.
Preservation Medium
It is a tube that contains 3-3.5 ml of preservation medium. It contains a formula that is most applicable for virus storage. And it is also designed in a way that increases the positive rate of the virus culture. It contains a glass bead for easy elution. The best preservation medium should have a good bacteriostatic performance to improve the positive rate isolation.
3. How to Collect and Store Virus
When collecting viruses, it is important to make sure that you take good care and collect the samples carefully. Collect all the culture specimens before administration of any antibiotic to avoid contamination with indigenous flora. Ensure all the specimens are labeled with a patient identifier. Ensure you have the patient name, birthdates and hospital unit number service, and time of collection.
After collecting all the samples to the laboratory without delay and ensuring they are transported at room temperature. It is important to keep all the samples in a tightly sealed container and transport them at room temperature unless otherwise requested.
4. What is a Viral Transport Medium (VTM)?
Viral transport medium is the medium used for transporting and keeping the viral stable for 72 hours after collection. It is packed in a sealed tube with an anti-leakage screw thread system without contaminating the sample. The tube is made in a way that allows it to stand on a lab bench without a support shelf.
5. Applications of Viral Transport Medium
Viral transport medium provides a standard operation procedure for producing viral transport for specimens for viral detection. Each condition is unique, and there should be acceptable conditions for each case. When you are choosing the viral transport media, you should consider the shipping and the receiving laboratories. It would be best to also consider the scope in terms of support for the center for disease control and prevention. The personnel preparing the VTM are responsible for accuracy. Each of the VTM should have the date of manufacturer. The VTM plays an important role in the collection and transportation of viruses during the outbreak of the COVID-19.
6. What are the Precautions for Using VTM?
The VTM needs to be used within the expiry date, and before using it, you should check for turbidity or any growth in the viral transport medium. You should make sure you note if there is any growth in the VTM sample before you use it and before dispatch to the surveillance site. You should discard the whole batch of viral transport media if you notice any growth.
7. What are the Benefits of Using VTM?
- VTM’s breadth of service allows the flexibility of tailoring services to meet the specific needs regardless of the size.
- It also helps collect, transport, and maintain, and long-term freeze storage of clinical specimens containing viruses.
- It is a safe way to transport viral specimens.
- And it maintains the organism’s viability for 48 hours at room temperature.
- VTM is available with a plastic screw cap tube that contains proteins and antibiotics.
- It helps in sustaining viability for culture and nucleic acid tests and prevents specimen dying.
- It also has flexible temperature ranges for transporting specimens.
- And it also prevents fungal contamination. It preserves viruses and Chlamydia for long-term frozen storage.
8. Viral Transport Medium Manufacturers & Suppliers
- Care-De VTM (China)
- UTM®
- Bio-VTM™
- HiViral™
- BD Universal Viral Transport System
Conclusion
Flocked swabs are the newest solution of single-use specimen collection devices. If you are looking for an enhanced sample collection, it is important to think of using flocked swabs. Flocked swabs are the newest technology for collecting specimens and also the most effective.
If you are planning to wholesale viral transport medium (VTM), you can choose one from the list above. They are high-quality and reliable manufacturers or suppliers. Especially Care-De is a professional VTM manufacturer located in China.