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SPECIMEN
COLLECTION: Intestinal Tract
What
is the purpose of collecting fresh stool specimens?
From
fresh stool, organism motility (trophozoite stages of the
amebae, flagellates, ciliates) can be observed by performing
a direct wet smear.
However, the benefits of examining fresh stool for motile
organisms is often outweighed by the fact that protozoan trophozites
tend to disintegrate when fresh stool is not immediately examined
or placed in an appropriate fixative. Many laboratories have
elected to receive all stool specimens for diagnostic parasitology
in stool preservatives. |
