Culture, Cornea

• Label slide with patient's name, date of birth, and hospital number.
• Draw/etch a circle on the slide and place specimen within the circle
• Air-dry and place in a slide transport box; tape closed
• Label agar plates (on media side of plate, not lid) and broth tube with patient name and medical record number (or date of birth).
• Tape plates closed.

• 21-guage needles or Kimura scalpel
• 2x clean microscope slides
• 1 blood agar plate
• 1 chocolate agar plate (for fastidious organisms)
• 1 thioglycollate broth (for anaerobic coverage)
• 1 Sabouraud agar plate (for yeast, mold)
• 1 Lowenstein-Jensen slant (for Mycobacteria)

• If possible, withdraw the use of antimicrobial agents for 24 hours prior to sampling. Where this is not possible, the use of broth media serves as a diluent that reduces the concentration of the drug
• Apply anaesthetic drops that do not contain preservative.
• Use a different needle to take each specimen or, if using a Kimura scalpel, change scalpel  between samples.
• If fungal or amoebic infection is suspected, it is preferable to sample material from the deeper stromal layer of the cornea.

1. Slide for Gram stain and slide for alternative staining processes
2. Solid media
3. Liquid media

• Label slide with patient's name, date of birth, and hospital number.
• Draw/etch a circle on the slide and place specimen within the circle
• Air-dry and place in a slide transport box.

• Gently smear material on the surface of agar in C-streaks, taking care not to puncture the surface of the agar.
• Tape  the lid of the plate to the base around the perimeter.
• Transport to lab as soon as possible. Refrigeration of specimens is to be discouraged and, if not being transported directly to the laboratory, it is preferable to keep samples at room temperature.

Room Temperature
Do NOT refrigerate