What type of medium is recommended for shipping a bacterial sample from a clinic to a laboratory?

Transport medium is specifically designed for the safe transport of microbial samples from one location to another while preserving their viability. This type of medium typically contains certain nutrients and buffering agents that maintain osmotic balance and prevent the death of bacteria during transit. It is not meant to promote growth excessively, which is why it differs from growth medium.

Transport medium is crucial in clinical settings because it helps to ensure that the microbial population remains stable until laboratory analysis can be performed. This is particularly important when dealing with samples that may be sensitive to environmental changes or when attempting to recover microorganisms in their viable but non-culturable state.

In contrast, growth medium is formulated to promote the proliferation of bacteria, which would not be suitable for transportation where the goal is to keep the sample intact rather than encouraging microbial growth. Selective medium is tailored for the growth of specific types of bacteria while inhibiting others, making it unsuitable for the general transport of diverse bacterial samples. Enrichment medium is designed to enhance the growth of particular bacteria present in a sample, which again could compromise the sample during transport. Therefore, transportation of bacterial samples is ideally done using transport medium to ensure the viability and integrity of the bacteria until further analysis in the lab.