- For personal protection, it is recommended that gloves and a face mask be worn.
- Patients with copious discharge should be requested to gently clean their nose by washing or with tissue.
- Collect an appropriate nasopharyngeal or nasal specimen.
- Place the swab into the accompanying vial of transport media, break the swab at its break point so that the swab stays in the vial and tighten the lid securely.
- Label the vial with the patient’s full name and date of birth and place the specimen in the biohazard bag provided.
- Refrigerate at 4°C until transport by courier.
- Instructions sheet (downloadable pdf)
| Completing the requisition |
Please complete the Public Health Ontario laboratories general test requisition. Please make sure to fill one requisition form for each submitted specimen.
Complete all fields of the requisition:
- Under Clinician/Referring Laboratory, enter the full name and billing address of the physician/facility to which the final report will be sent.
- Please specify the specimen collection date in the middle right of the requisition.
- Complete the special questions to enable assessment of vaccine effectiveness in protecting against laboratory-confirmed influenza.
- For each specimen, place requisition in outside pocket of each biohazard bag.
| Transportation of specimens |
Assemble the individual shipping boxes. Ship each specimen in an individual shipping box provided with one ice pack per box. Send by overnight delivery using Fed Ex. Contact Fed Ex at 1-800-Go-FedEx, or 1-800-463-3339.
Please do not use “same day delivery” and do not ship on Fridays.
| Send specimens for influenza testing to: |
Romy Olsha
2011-12 Vaccine Effectiveness Study specimens
Molecular Diagnostics, PHO laboratories
81 Resources Road
Toronto, Ontario, M9P 3T1
Results will be reported directly to your office through the routine laboratory reporting mechanism.
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