Microbiology

A comprehensive clinical service is available including bacteriology, parasitology, infectious serology, immunology, molecular biology, virology and mycology. Clinical advice and interpretation of results is available from our consultant microbiologists and immunologist. Please contact us on 7020 (bacteriology), 7034 (virology) or 7022 (immunology) for more information and for details of factors affecting test performance and interpretation.

Infection control

We work closely with our infection control team in the provision of a comprehensive infection control service. Our infection control team is available for advice on the management of infected patients and measures for the prevention of cross-infection of patients and staff. Hospital infection control policies are available for reference in all clinical areas and on the clinic intranet system.

Microbiology test information

It is essential that full clinical details are provided to allow meaningful interpretation of results. If the request form is not completed, we may not be able to proceed with the request. Ensure all mandatory fields on the form are completed.

Specimens may not be suitable for testing if they are inadequately labelled or if they have leaked or been contaminated. In these circumstances every effort will be made to inform the requesting clinician. In the case of an unlabelled precious specimen, analysis will be carried out at the discretion of the laboratory manager.

Relevant clinical information

Diagnosis and/or symptoms
The anatomical site from which the specimen was collected
All antimicrobial therapy (current or intended)
Details of any recent foreign travel
Date of onset and duration of illness (particularly for serology)
Any relevant epidemiological information e.g. occupation.

More information

Specimen collection

To ensure the best results are achieved, pleasure ensure appropriate specimens in the correct containers are delivered to the laboratory promptly and include all relevant clinical information of the request form.

General guidelines on specimen collection are:

Do not send specimens in non-sterile containers
When appropriate, specimens should be obtained before antimicrobial agents have been administered
An adequate quantity of the material should be obtained for complete examination. Always send pus rather than a swab of the pus site
The specimen taken should be representative of the disease process
Care must be taken to avoid contamination of the specimen by micro-organisms normally found on the skin and mucus membranes.
Sterile equipment and aseptic technique must be used for collecting specimens, particularly those from normally sterile sites
Material must be transported promptly to the laboratory. Fastidious organisms may not survive prolonged storage or may be overgrown by less fastidious organisms before culturing.

Please contact the laboratory if advice is required on the best specimen to take or on the techniques that should be employed to collect the specimen.

High risk specimens and safety

Specimens taken from patients known to be infected with a blood-borne agent such as Hepatitis B and C, HIV or other infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) or typhoid are classed as high risk. High risk specimens also include those taken from people at risk of being infected by one of these agents.

These specimens must be labelled as HIGH RISK on both the container and specimen form.

Microbiology, serology, immunology test and profile information

Please click on the links below to obtain further information about our tests and profiles.

Immunology tests
Immunology profiles
Microbiology and serology profiles
Microbiology and serology tests

Patient information

How to collect a urine sample

Laboratory opening times & key microbiology staff