Isolates submitted to the UKARU via Royal Mail or Hays DX should be packaged according to the regulations concerning infectious materials. Pure isolates sent on charcoal transport swabs or in cooked meat broths are preferable as they provide maximum viability and recovery.
Alternative transport swabs or broths may be used but could lead to non-viability or delayed growth.
If you wish to send samples not stated above, please do not do so without prior consent from the UKARU.
Each isolate should be accompanied by our referral form.
For referrals deemed to be outside the area of expertise of the UKARU (eg aerobic actinomycetes, certain capnophilic organisms) advice for re-referral to the appropriate reference facility will be provided.
Before referring an isolate to us, please ensure that you have excluded the possibility that it may be, or may contain, a hazard group 3 organism. Rapid growing non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and other acid/alcohol-acid fast bacilli (AFB/AAFB) should also be ruled out prior to referral of bacterial isolates.
The UKARU has criteria in place where samples are rejected depending on the scenario as follows:
Please ensure that all relevant identifiers including full postal address (not DX only) are included on the request form.
If submitting samples from outside the UK please consider all relevant paperwork and highlight the time sensitive nature of the request.
For anything outside of these standard referrals please discuss with Lead Scientist.