Specimen Requirements

1.  Submit 1 mL of freshly passed stool in a sterile container or stool in Cary Blair preservative.  (Do not contaminate stool specimen with urine.)

2.  Patients should be off antibiotics, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) or bismuth compounds for 14 days prior to fecal sample collection.  These medications are known to inhibit H.pylori, and false negative results may occur.  However, positive results for patients who have used these medications within that 14 day window are still considered accurate.

  3. Maintain sterility and forward promptly.

Note: Fresh or preserve specimens must be refrigerated and tested within 96 hours of collection.  If longer transport is anticipated for a fresh sample, specimen should be frozen. 

Unacceptable specimens: swabs, samples in preservative or extremely watery stools.