Specimen Requirements

Endocervical/Vaginal Swab Specimens:

1. Use only the Xpert CT/NG Vaginal/Endocervical Specimen Collection kit (available from the AVH Laboratory)

2. These specimens must be collected and tested before the expiration date of the Swab Transport Reagent tube.

Urine Specimens:

1. Use only the Xpert CT/NG Urine Specimen Collection Kit (available from the AVH Laboratory) or unpreserved urine collected in a sterile container.

2. These specimens must be collected and tested before the expiration date of the Urine Transport Reagent tube.

Specimen Stability:

Once placed into the appropriate Transport Reagent tube after collection, specimens must arrive at the AVH Lab for testing within 3 days when stored at room temperature, 45 days when stored refrigerated at 2-8C.

Sources that include: oral/throat, ocular or rectal/anal should be collected using the APTIMA collection Unisex swab (available from the AVH Laboratory). Order Mayo Medical Laboratories test MGRNA - "N. gonorrhoeae, Misc, Amplified RNA", CPT 87591.