Evaluation of Swab in Maintaining Survival Efficiency according to the CLSI M40-A2 Standard

Transporting clinical samples for microbiological testing requires a proper transport medium that guarantees the survival of microorganisms. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the ability of Amies Transport Medium (ATM) to maintain the viability of microorganisms in clinical specimens and its suitability as a transport medium for microbiological testing. This study evaluated the performance of swab provided by KS Co., Ltd. for three groups of bacteria comprising aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria, anaerobic bacteria, and fastidious bacteria, according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) 8.11.2. The ATM stability test was conducted by dividing the medium into two groups based on the product expiration date of use. All tested media, A and B (the date of manufacture and expiration date are different) showed ≥5 CFU, and there was no significant difference in the result values of Category A and Category B with different serial numbers for each test. The results of this experiment when cross-checked with the guidelines suggest that ATM is a suitable transport medium for microbiological testing, as it maintains the viability of microorganisms and is suitable for overgrowth trials. In addition, compared to the number of CFUs at the origin, the number of CFUs did not increase by more than 1 log after storage. These results have important implications for the development of transport media that can guarantee the survival of microorganisms in clinical specimens.