Comparison of Copan eSwab with the Copan Venturi Transystem for the quantitative survival of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus agalactiae and Candida albicans

Swab transport systems should preserve the viability and stability of micro-organisms in clinical specimens throughout transport and storage. eSwab, a nylon-tipped swab in liquid medium, designed for better specimen collection and less micro-organism entrapment, was evaluated for the maintenance of viability and quantitative survival of Escherichia coli, Streptococcus agalactiae and Candida albicans. The quantitative elution method was used to evaluate eSwab in vitro. In vitro, the recovery of the three micro-organisms was higher in eSwab (97–100%) as compared to the Copan Venturi Transystem (CVT) (86–96%) at room temperature (RT) for time point 0 h and remained similar after 6 h. E. coli and C. albicans proliferated in both transport systems when preserved beyond 6 h. At 4°C, the recovery of eSwab was higher (>94%) compared to CVT (77–94%) for the micro-organisms tested. eSwab did not only meet the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute (CLSI) criteria for microbiological transport devices, but as its recovery rate in vitro was higher than that of CVT, it might also enhance the sensitivity of bacterial culture in the future.