THE SURVIVAL OF ANAEROBIC BACTERIA AT 4 °C AND 22 °C ON SWABS IN THREE TRANSPORT SYSTEMS Statistical Evaluation by Application of a Variance Component Model

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Abstract
The survival of anaerobic bacteria on swabs in 3 transport systems at 4.degree. C and 22.degree. C was evaluated. The transport systems were a charcoal-impregnated cotton swab in modified Stuart''s transport medium (MS), a plain cotton swab in a dry aerobic tube (DA) and a plain control swab in an aerobic agar tube (AA). The test strains were Bacteroides fragilis, B. melaninogenicus ssp. intermedius, Fusobacterium necrophorum, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius, Eubacterium lentum and Clostridium ramosum. Inoculated swabs were kept at the described conditions for time periods ranging from 22 1/2 min through 32 days after which surviving organisms were recovered quantitatively. Results were described by the survival rate, defined as the percentage of organisms initially present that had survived storage for 24 h. The survival rate was uniformly higher at 4.degree. C than at 22.degree. C. In MS at 4.degree. C, the survival rate was 81.9% compared to 4.3% in DA at 4.degree. C. At 22.degree. C the survival rate in DA and AA was .ltoreq. 0.003%, whereas, in MS, growth occurred with B. fragilis, E. lentum and C. ramosum.