These samples can be transported on a swab immersed in either Stuarts or Cary-Blair transport gel. The gel will keep the specimen moist and keep anaerobes away from the ambient air. Culture containers that provide crush-ampules of liquid transport medium, while acceptable for aerobic cultures, are not acceptable for anaerobes. Swabs that contain mostly pus will often provide no-growth on cultures, due to the toxic effect of the white blood cells. The most productive specimens are obtained by swabbing deep into an infected wound or obtaining fluids from an actively infected tissue. Culture swabs in media should be stored and transported at room temperature, as some fastidious organisms will be lost otherwise.

Specimens for viral culture are best transported in liquid viral culture media. Small liquid specimens can be dropped directly into the transport medium. Others are collected on a clean, dry dacron swab having a plastic shaft (not wood or paper). The swab is broken off into the vial of transport medium and submitted to the lab. Store at refrigerator temperature and transport with cold packs. ANTECH can provide a Viral Transport Pack that includes a tube of transport medium and the swab.

Cultures for Mycoplasma should be submitted on a clean, dry dacron swab with a plastic shaft. The culture must be refrigerated and transported with a cold pack to arrive within 24 hours. If delayed beyond 24 hours, the culture swab must be frozen and stored at -20ºC.