Assessment of different storage conditions for Staphylococcus hyicus survival

Collecting swabs from skin lesions for bacteriological examination is frequently performed to the diagnosis of exudative epidermitis. This method is fast and non-invasive, but it depends directly on the viability of bacteria in clinical samples, which can be influenced by storage and shipment temperatures and the time of transportation. The aim of this study was to assess the capacity of four commercial transport media and swabs with no transport medium to preserve Staphylococcus hyicus (S. hyicus) for up to 10 days at room temperature and under refrigeration.

Samples were stored in swabs with no transport medium and four transport media (Amies, Amies with charcoal, Cary Blair and Stuart) for 10 days at room temperature and under refrigeration. Swabs were plated in Tween 80 Agar and colonies counted.

Samples kept in transport media showed better performance (P < 0.05) under refrigeration. Storage under refrigeration in Amies medium showed better results than all other transport media and swabs (P < 0.05). Amies medium and swabs with no transport medium showed comparable results in room temperature (P > 0.05). In additional, refrigerated Amies medium and swabs with no transport medium at room temperature showed high performance for up to nine and three storage days, respectively.

The recovery of S. hyicus in samples stored in Amies medium under refrigeration was higher when compared to other transport media. In addition, swabs with no transport medium could also be indicated when samples are stored at room temperature within three days.