Home Swabbing Questions

Hello Nurse Warren,

I am actually a long distance patient.  Your clinic is very kind.  I am doing some home swabbing and had some questions for you on the process.  I hope it is ok to post on this forum.  I thought maybe some others would benefit from knowing this info.

1.  I store my swabs in the fridge which stays between 4 and 6 degrees Celsius for about 7 days before I fill a vial and then transfer them to the freezer.
2.  After the 7 days in the fridge, I may store the frozen vial for another 7-11 days in the freezer before I ship them overnight with ice packs to your Clinic
3.  Overall at the longest any swab is stored or in transit is for about 13-18 days.

Do all these numbers look good?  Should I keep my fridge colder, send in the vials sooner, or take any other precautions?  I am concerned if I let them sit in the freezer for too long the may 'go bad' or something and make the PCR testing less accurate/effective.  I appreciate your time, and to the readers, Nurse Warren's clinic is the best out there.  Please shoot some donations her way!

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

These numbers all sound just fine.  Swabs can stay frozen for years and be just fine.  

Remember with PCR vs. culture, with PCR, we aren't "growing" anything, like is being done with culture.  With PCR, little pieces of the viruses genetic material are being amplified so we can see them, totally different thing.  You are doing just fine with your procedures, good job!

Terri