Clinical viral specimen acceptance/rejection criteria

Clinical viral specimen acceptance-rejection criteria

State of Texas Seal

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES

DAVID L. LAKEY, M.D.
COMMISSIONER

1100 W. 49^th Street • Austin, Texas 78756
P.O. Box 149347 • Austin, TX 78714-9347
1-888-963-7111 • http://www.dshs.state.tx.us
TDD: 1-800-735-2989

November 1, 2008

Dear Submitter:

Re: Clinical viral specimen acceptance/rejection criteria

Effective December 1, 2008 the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), Laboratory Services Section will enforce specimen acceptance / rejection criteria for clinical specimens submitted for viral isolation as outlined in the table below:

Specimen Types	Virus	Transport and Submission
Influenza Surveillance (throat swabs, NP swabs, respiratory, etc)	Influenza	Transport cold on ice packs within 4 days of collection or freeze at - 70° C and ship on dry ice.
Respiratory	RSV	Transport cold on ice packs within 48 hours of collection.
Respiratory CSF, Swabs, Fecal Matter, Solid Tissue Respiratory, Urine Respiratory, Urine, Saliva, CSF Respiratory, Urine Respiratory, Urine, Saliva, CSF, Swabs, Tissue Swabs, Vesicular Fluid	Adenovirus, Parainfluenza1,2,3,4 Enterovirus (Coxsackie B, Echovirus, Entero 71, Coxsackie A9) Measles Mumps Rubella CMV(Requires equal volume of 0.4M sucrose phosphate before freezing at - 70° C) HSV 1,2	Transport cold on ice packs within 48 hours of collection. If specimens will not be received at the laboratory within 48 hours of collection, specimens should be frozen and shipped on dry ice.
Swabs, Vesicular Fluid	Varicella Zoster	Transport cold on ice packs within 12 hours of collection. Specimens that will not be received within 12 hours of collection should be frozen and shipped on dry ice.

Any specimens that do not meet these criteria at the date of receipt in our laboratory will be considered unsatisfactory for testing and will be immediately discarded. Although not intended to disrupt vital public health services to our programs and citizens of Texas, these guidelines will ensure the quality of test results and compliance with manufacturers' specimen acceptance criteria. General submission guidelines can be found on our website: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/lab/MRS_intro.shtm.

Please distribute this letter to all staff responsible for submitting samples.
Please do not ship specimens to the DSHS Laboratory on Friday or the day before a federally observed holiday.

If we can be of any assistance to you in interpreting these guidelines, please contact Martha Thompson at 1-888-963-7111 ext. 7594. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Susan U. Neill, PhD, MBA
Director, Laboratory Services Section