Long term storage of fastidious bacteria (Neisseria spp. and Haemophilus spp.) with swab preservation at -80 °C

Laura Villa; Aurora Torreblanca; Luis Otero; Francisco Carreño; Rainer Campo; María López-Escobar; Fernando Vazquez

doi:10.1016/j.mimet.2020.105969

Long term storage of fastidious bacteria (Neisseria spp. and Haemophilus spp.) with swab preservation at -80 °C

J Microbiol Methods. 2020 Aug:175:105969. doi: 10.1016/j.mimet.2020.105969. Epub 2020 Jun 5.

Authors

Laura Villa¹, Aurora Torreblanca², Luis Otero³, Francisco Carreño⁴, Rainer Campo⁴, María López-Escobar⁵, Fernando Vazquez⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Principado de Asturias (ISPA), Oviedo, Spain; Study Group on Sexually Transmitted Infections (GEITS), Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica (SEIMC), Spain. Electronic address: laura.villa.bajo@gmail.com.
² Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario de Cabueñes, Gijón, Spain.
³ Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Principado de Asturias (ISPA), Oviedo, Spain; Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario de Cabueñes, Gijón, Spain; Study Group on Sexually Transmitted Infections (GEITS), Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica (SEIMC), Spain.
⁴ Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain.
⁵ Sexually Transmitted Infections Unit, Hospital Monte Naranco, Oviedo, Spain.
⁶ Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Principado de Asturias (ISPA), Oviedo, Spain; Study Group on Sexually Transmitted Infections (GEITS), Sociedad Española de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica (SEIMC), Spain; Department of Functional Biology, Microbiology Area, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oviedo, Spain; Ophthalmological Research Foundation, Fernández-Vega Ophthalmological Institute, Oviedo, Spain.

PMID: 32512120
DOI: 10.1016/j.mimet.2020.105969

Abstract

Preservation of strains is important to further studies and characterization; we have shown a technique of long-term preservation of Neisseria spp. and Haemophilus spp. by freezing cotton tip swabs impregnated with fastidious organisms at -80 °C without the addition of cryoprotectants.

Keywords: Freezing; Haemophilus spp; Neisseria gonorrhoeae; Neisseria meningitidis; Preservation.

MeSH terms

Cryopreservation / methods*
Freezing
Haemophilus influenzae* / growth & development
Haemophilus influenzae* / isolation & purification
Haemophilus parainfluenzae* / growth & development
Haemophilus parainfluenzae* / isolation & purification
Neisseria gonorrhoeae* / growth & development
Neisseria gonorrhoeae* / isolation & purification
Neisseria meningitidis* / growth & development
Neisseria meningitidis* / isolation & purification
Specimen Handling / methods*