What is a sputum culture?

The material which is coughed up from the lungs and then spat out or expectorated is called sputum or sometimes referred to as phlegm. A sputum culture is done to identify the microorganism causing lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and tuberculosis. A fever with a chronic cough , along with blood or pus-like material in the sputum, is usually an indication for undertaking a sputum culture.

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What is a Blood Culture?

This test is advisable when there are symptoms of blood infection such as septicemia or bacteremia and blood culture is done to identify the bacteria or other microorganism. A blood microbial culture will be requested by your doctor depending on your case history and clinical findings upon physical examination.

Collection of Specimen

About 10 ml (0.3 fl oz) of blood is withdrawn with a needle and syringe from a vein, either on the inside of the elbow or back of the hand, and collected in two vials. It is sent to the laboratory where it is placed on a petri dish with agar. This is the ideal medium for bacterial growth and after incubation, it will indicate clear areas of bacterial growth if there was bacteria present in the blood specimen.

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What is a Microbial Culture?

A microbial culture is one of the diagnostic methods of microbiology and is used to determine the cause of an infectious disease by allowing the microorganism to multiply in certain specific media under controlled laboratory conditions. This helps to determine the type as well as severity of the infection by doing a colony count of the organism in the specimen.

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