Procedure for Culture Specimen Processing: Gastric Aspirate

The procedure for processing gastric aspirates in TB cultures is as follows:

• Concentrate by centrifugation before decontaminating.
• Resuspend the sediment in about 5 ml of sterile water and decontaminate with N-acetyl-L-cysteine-sodium hydroxide (NALC-NaOH) method.
• After decontamination, concentrate again prior to inoculation of the sediment into the culture media.
• Due to the low pH, gastric aspirates should be processed as soon as possible (within 4 hours of collection).
• If the specimen cannot be processed quickly, it should be neutralized with NaOH before transportation or storage.

Resources

• MGIT Procedure Manual, Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) Culture and Drug Susceptibility Demonstration Projects, FIND Training Manual.

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