Articles

Gastroenteritis and Its Laboratory Diagnosis

by Kriben Govender Health Advisor
The disease that has not spared either the developed or the developing nations from its tentacles is named as Gastroenteritis. It occurs when certain bacteria or even viruses cause infection in the gut which in term causes severe inflammation in both stomachs and intestines. Symptoms of this annoying and pesky disease range from prolonged diarrhea to vomiting to excruciating abdominal contractions or pains. The disease can also occur due to closeness to unhygienic places or things, like close contact with animals, or cattle or eating and drinking bacteria-contaminated food and water.

It is to find out the exact cause of the disease in your gut, that microbial analysis is prescribed by your doctor. The test is done to find, identify and characterize the bacterial enteropathogens. These tests are performed in laboratories where your stool sample is gathered and cultured or tested which helps the officials to identify as well as track the outburst of the aforementioned disease.

How Is It Performed?

Microbial Analysis, commonly known as Stool or Fecal Culture is performed for identification of Gastroenteritis and gut-related problems. There are however, two different points which segregate Microbial Analysis from other forms of fecal culture which are 1. ) Antigen and 2.) Nucleic acid amplification. These two are performed to detect C. Difficile, STEC as well as Campylobacter. The test also identifies the presence of B. Cereus, C. Perfringens and S. Aureus that cause food poisoning and are diagnosed out in the laboratory.

The feces sample is collected in a clean container in case of severe diarrhea. In case the collected feces are soft, almost 5 ml is collected and in case it is solid, 0.5 to 2 grams is enough for the culture. Prior to collection, the patient must be well-instructed so that the collection is clean, which means that the specimen must not be adulterated with urine, barium and/or toilet papers. Moreover, the container must have label of the full name of the patient and his/her medical record and date of birth.

In addition to the stool sample, blood, bone marrow and/or urine samples might also be prescribed in case a patient has the symptoms of typhoid fever. Moreover, in cases of extraintestinal Salmonella diseases, blood along with urine samples is collected along with the stool and sent for the culture.

Transporting and Preserving the Sample

Post collection, the stool or feces sample must be transported to the laboratory immediately so that it may be processed within two hours since it is that time period when Shigella and campylobacter still live, after which they die. If the sample cannot be cultured within two hours, it must be refrigerated in a particular type of medium (commonly Cary-Blair) at a temperature of four degrees centigrade. This is done to conserve the enteropathogens.

Test Reports

After having performed the culture on the sample, the scientists at the laboratory provide a report of the results to the doctor and the patient. It is from this report that the doctor starts the treatment that is necessary for Gastroenteritis.

If you require Microbial Analysis to be done at a fair price, you should definitely check out Allele Microbiome which is well-known for its services In Australia. For more information, log on to https://www.gutexplorer.com.au/.


Sponsor Ads


About Kriben Govender Freshman   Health Advisor

11 connections, 0 recommendations, 39 honor points.
Joined APSense since, November 15th, 2017, From Victoria, Australia.

Created on Mar 27th 2018 04:11. Viewed 329 times.

Comments

No comment, be the first to comment.
Please sign in before you comment.