1. Bacteriological examination - cultivation and identification of bacterial elements in pathological samples and determination of susceptibility to antibiotics.

Services:

- Bacteriological examination, aerobic culture (skin test, ear secretions, nasal secretions, genital secretions, urine, faeces, eye secretions, wounds, cavitary effusions, etc.) – duration: 3-5 days.

- Bacteriological examination, anaerobic culture (faeces, cavity fluids, etc.) – duration: 5-7 days.

- Bacteriological examination for Campylobacter sp. (faeces) – duration: 5-7 days.

- Direct microscopic examination, Gram staining from the pathological sample – duration: 1-2 days.

- Antibiograms for all positive samples.

Mycological examination - cultivation and identification of fungi from pathological samples (yeasts, molds, dimorphic fungi).

Services:

- Mycological examination of the skin sample - identification of dermatophytes, yeasts, dimorphic fungi – duration: 10-14 days.

- Mycological examination from other samples (nasal secretions; bronchoalveolar lavage, atrial secretions, genital secretions, etc.) - yeasts, molds, dimorphic fungi – duration: 5-6 days.

- Antifungigram on request.

- Direct microscopic examination with Lactophenol – duration: 1-2 days.

Samples for bacteriological or mycological examination must be collected in sterile conditions and sent to the laboratory on special transport medium for microbiology or in sterile containers as soon as possible.

Bacteriological examination is necessary to identify bacteria and to determine its susceptibility to antibiotics. It is an important element in establishing the diagnosis, but it has certain limitations and its misinterpretation can lead to the irrational use of antimicrobial substances.

Bacteriological examination - how do we interpret the result correctly?

The patient is more than a diagnosis on a test report.

Things to keep in mind when interpreting the result of a bacteriological examination:

1. Sampling method:

Sampling for bacteriological examination must be done under sterile conditions taking into account the type of sample.

Examples: For urine, cystocentesis collection is recommended, free fall collection or cathetarisation may lead to contamination of the sample with bacteria from the skin/mucous membranes.

For skin samples, harvesting by puncturing an unopened pustule or sampling from under the crust is recommended. Collecting hairs for bacteriological examination is not recommended, as the sample is considered contaminated.

IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED  to perform the bacteriological examination from samples in which the resident flora is very rich (faeces, vaginal discharges, samples from the oral cavity, pharyngeal exudate). Bacteriological examination can’t differentiate pathogenic strains from contamination flora, a false positive result can lead to unjustified use of antimicrobial substances and selection of multidrug-resistant bacteria.

2. Previous treatments:

In order not to influence the result of the bacteriological examination, it is recommended to collect samples BEFORE the treatment with antimicrobial substances.

3. Clinical signs of the patient and results of complementary examinations:

The result of the bacteriological examination is always correlated with the clinical signs of the animal and with results of the other complementary examinations.