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Serotype determination for Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus)

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*Accredited by the Standards Council of Canada to Laboratory no. 594 (ISO/IEC 17025)

Requisition Forms

Reference Details

Description:

The determination of serotype for Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus).

Test Category:
Serotyping
Pathogen:
Streptococcus agalactiae
Illnesses and Diseases:
  • Neonatal infections
Specimen:

Pure culture, presumptively identified as S. agalactiae, isolated from a normally sterile site (such as blood or CSF).

Specimens may be subject to rejection if they are not the appropriate sample type, a duplicate sample**, have insufficient volume, are not accompanied by relevant patient information, not on the correct requisition, or requisition is absent.

Collection Method:

Isolate provided on culture medium.

Specimen Processing, Storage and Shipping:

Send as growth on culture medium (preferred) or on a swab in transport medium.  Chocolate or charcoal media are recommended.  Cultures can be also shipped frozen on dry ice. 

Transportation of Dangerous Goods:

Shipping of specimens shall be done by a TDG certified individual in accordance with TDG regulations. For additional information regarding classification of specimens for the purposes of shipping, consult either Part 2 Appendix 3 of the TDG Regulations or section 3.6.2 of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations as applicable.

Patient Criteria:

Isolates from infants less than 1 month of age with invasive disease due to Streptococcus agalactiae may be submitted.

Accompanying Documentation:

Completed Isolate Submission Requisition for Streptococcus form including sender lab name, address, telephone number and email address. Patient age or date of birth, sex, culture reference number, clinical source, date collected, and test requested. Outbreak or specimens requiring expedited testing or phylogenetic analysis must be indicated as such on the requisition. The above information must be sent as a hardcopy with the shipment, and an excel file may be sent to nml.strepsti-lnm.strepits@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

 

Comments:

Isolates of Streptococcus agalactiae isolated from contacts of infected infants may also be submitted for testing.

**Duplicate samples should not be submitted without prior consent as they may not be processed. Isolates collected from the same patient within 3 weeks are considered duplicates.

Methods and Interpretation of Results:

* Serotyping using whole genome sequencing (primary) (2)

Serotyping using qPCR Assay (secondary) (1)

Turnaround Time:

30 calendar days

Outbreak associated or urgent isolates will be granted priority status and completed as soon as possible. Please contact Streptococcus and STI Section to notify of these requests.

**Turnaround times may not be guaranteed when isolates are submitted in large batches.

Contact:
Phone #: Strep: 204-789-7658; STI: 204-784-5995
Fax: 204-789-2140
References:
  1. Breeding KM, Ragipani B, Lee KD, Malik M, Randis TM, Ratner AJ. Real-time PCR-based serotyping of Streptococcus agalactiae. Sci Rep. 2016 Dec 2;6:38523. doi: 10.1038/srep38523.
  2. Kapatai, G.; Patel, D.; Efstratiou, A.; Chalker, V. J. Comparison of Molecular Serotyping Approaches of Streptococcus Agalactiae from Genomic Sequences. BMC Genomics 2017, 18 (1), 429. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-017-3820-5.
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