How long can baby feces be stored? Why do you need a stool test? Feces for analysis in a glass jar

There are several types of studies of this biological material. The most commonly used is coprogram.

It is important to know

To obtain an accurate research result, it is necessary to correctly collect the material and know how to store stool for analysis. The requirements depend on which diagnostic method is used.

To obtain the most accurate research data, it is better to donate stool directly after bowel movement. It is recommended to do all this in the morning.

However, it often happens that emptying occurs in the evening or at night and feces must be stored until the morning. The ideal location for this biological material until the next day is in the refrigerator.

Material for biochemical research can be stored in the freezer.

How to assemble

• Most studies do not recommend enemas before collecting stool. After this procedure, the mass can be submitted for analysis only after two days.
• In addition, it is important to avoid the use of sorbents and drugs that have a laxative effect.
• One day before collecting the material, rectal suppositories should not be used.

In some cases, seven days before the procedure, it is important to adhere to a simple diet that excludes the consumption of fatty, fried and salty foods, as well as spicy foods and spices.

It is also undesirable to introduce a new product for complementary feeding if feces need to be collected from the baby.

For the result to be reliable, it is important to adhere to the following rules:

• You can collect stool samples only after emptying your bladder. If urine gets into the feces during collection, the result may be unreliable.
• Before delivery, it is necessary to perform hygienic treatment of intimate areas using warm water and soap.
• Defecation is carried out over a dry and clean container, after which the required amount of feces is collected and placed in a sterile container.
• Baby feces can be taken directly from the diapers.
• During menstruation, the collection of material is postponed until it ends.

If the patient is unable to void on his own, this should be discussed with a specialist. He will advise how best to circumvent this problem.

Basic rules for storage before the laboratory

• The container in which the biological material will be stored can be purchased at any pharmaceutical institution. It is allowed to open the container immediately before the procedure. The kit includes a special spoon with which you can collect the required amount of feces. Then everything is tightly closed with a lid. The container is dry and sterile, so the necessary conditions for storing feces are met.
• Instead of a special container, you can use a regular glass jar with a lid. Before placing feces in it, the jar should be thoroughly washed with a soda solution, rinsed, doused with boiling water and dried well.
• It is not recommended to use plastic containers, as well as containers that have previously been used for feces.
• It is important to keep the material for no more than the specified time. Long-term storage will lead to the result being unreliable, since the feces will no longer be suitable for research.
• It is also necessary to remember that such material is stored at a certain temperature in a refrigerator or similar place. If you keep it indoors, the analysis result will be incorrect. The optimal temperature is considered to be: no lower than four and no more than eight degrees Celsius.

How to save feces collected in the evening until the morning

If the feces were collected in the evening or night before the analysis, the container with the material is placed in the refrigerator.

No more than eight hours should pass from the moment the material was collected until it is submitted for diagnostics.

After this time, the material will no longer be suitable. Therefore, it is important to take into account the travel time to the clinic in these eight hours. If it takes about 60 minutes, then you can store the mass in the refrigerator for no longer than seven hours.

In the laboratory they indicate whose stool is being tested, what the person’s stool was like (no peculiarities, liquid, hard, with a laxative). It is also important to indicate the age so that the specialist can understand whether the material for analysis was taken from an adult or a child.

How to bring morning stool to the laboratory

If the stool is morning, it must be taken to the laboratory as quickly as possible. The ideal way is to transport the container with the material in a cooler bag, thermal bag or container.

If this is not possible, then the container must be wrapped in several layers of paper and then wrapped using a towel or any thick fabric. In this case, there are at least two to three hours before the test..

You can also deliver the material to the laboratory using couriers who work in some laboratories.

Features of storage in the refrigerator

Many people are interested in how long feces can be stored at minimum temperatures. Experts recommend keeping it in the refrigerator for no more than eight, and preferably six, hours.

For different types of research, different deadlines are allowed:

• For helminths and their eggs – from 5 to 8 hours.
• For blood (occult) – from 5 to 6 hours.
• For coprogram – from 6 to 8 hours.
• For enterobiasis – from 5 to 8 hours.

It is not allowed to store feces for long periods of time for research.

Store feces in a sealed container, placing it on the middle shelf.

Can it go in the freezer?

Most experts do not recommend storing feces in the freezer. This is explained by the fact that when frozen, all the biological properties of feces are lost, so it becomes unsuitable for research.

However, in some sources you can find information that for some diagnostic methods freezing of feces is allowed. Whether this is true or not, it is better to ask the laboratory assistant.

Preservation of feces for different types of diagnostics

The shelf life also depends on what kind of research needs to be done:

A more accurate interpretation of any type of analysis can be obtained if the stool is sent for research as quickly as possible.

Differences in storing feces of an adult and a child

Children are usually unpredictable, and the exact time when they will have a bowel movement is very difficult to determine. Therefore, if parents are lucky enough to receive biological material in the morning, it should be immediately taken to the laboratory.

The permissible interval between collection and delivery of feces to the clinic is from one to three hours.

A child’s feces, collected the evening before delivery to the laboratory, can be stored in the refrigerator (at 4-6 degrees Celsius) for no more than eight hours. If the time period from collection to delivery exceeds 480 minutes, the material will be unsuitable for research.

An adult can store their feces for testing for up to three hours. If the material is in the refrigerator, then it can be handed in for another two days (but not later!).

However, it is important to understand that long-term storage may result in inaccurate results. Therefore, it is best to submit such material to the laboratory within six hours after collection. After this time, its biological properties begin to change.

Analysis of feces is reliable only if the material was correctly collected and all storage conditions were met. In addition, it is important to remember that there are some differences depending on the type of analysis. Therefore, it is important to familiarize yourself with the recommendations of specialists regarding the collection and storage of material.

Submitting feces for analysis is a necessary procedure for the initial diagnosis of pathologies in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), since feces are the end product of digestion. The study allows us to identify malfunctions in the functioning of acid-forming and enzymatic systems; improper functioning of the pancreas and liver; establish the fact that undigested food remains were evacuated too quickly; incomplete absorption of substances in the intestine; inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract; development of a state of dysbiosis, as well as various forms of colitis.

The reliability of the research results depends not only on the accurate implementation of the analysis technique in accordance with the requirements of the standards, but also on the correct preparation of the patient himself. Recommendations on how to properly prepare before donating stool:

• biomaterial must be collected naturally. 3 days before collection, it is necessary to exclude laxatives, rectal suppositories and oils;
• 2 days in advance, in agreement with your doctor, you should stop taking any medications, especially those that have a direct effect on the gastrointestinal tract and the color of stool. If it is impossible to cancel, notify the laboratory staff about the medications you are taking;
• Between the procedure for collecting stool for analysis and the completion of the course of antibiotic therapy, a time interval of at least 2 weeks should be maintained. This fact is explained by the side effects of most groups of antibiotics - dysbiosis, as a result of inhibition of the vital activity of not only pathogenic, but also normal symbiotic microflora in the human intestine.

Compliance with the above rules will allow you to avoid false results and obtain the most accurate picture of the condition of the patient’s gastrointestinal tract.

How to collect stool for analysis from an adult?

The high information content of stool analysis and a wide list of study criteria allows it to be considered mandatory when visiting a doctor, and also requires special attention to the procedure for collecting biomaterial. How to collect a stool sample - rules:

• Initially, you should purchase a special sterile container with a spoon fixed to the lid from a pharmacy or laboratory service department (do not wash or rinse it). Many patients wonder: is it possible to donate stool for analysis in a glass jar? In light of the availability of special plastic containers for each patient (low price in the pharmacy and free in the laboratory), it is recommended to avoid homemade containers, especially when the fact of dysbacteriosis is established. Homemade glass jars do not guarantee sterility, which means that the possibility of foreign microflora entering and obtaining unreliable results cannot be ruled out;

• It is strictly forbidden to touch the bottom or surface of the spoon of the resulting sterile container with your hands;
• before the collection procedure, hygiene procedures are carried out with the exclusion of scented soaps and cosmetics, as well as oils;
• the biomaterial is collected with a special spoon attached to the container lid from a clean container or vessel. Important: collecting feces that touches the bottom of the toilet is unacceptable, since there is a risk of introducing foreign bacteria and protozoa;
• urine impurities should be absent;
• The container should be filled to at least 1/3 of the total volume. A smaller amount of biomaterial may not be sufficient to properly prepare a smear for microcopying or culture.

How to collect feces from a baby (coprogram) for analysis?

A coprogram is carried out to assess the physical and chemical properties of feces, in addition, the presence of unnatural inclusions and other components is established. The ratio of bacteria and undigested food debris in feces is normally 1:1. However, it should be noted that even in a healthy person, indicators can vary significantly, primarily depending on the method of nutrition and the amount of fluid consumed.

Infants should not have significant deviations from the norm, since their diet consists mainly of milk. Testing a newborn's stool is not strictly necessary. This fact is explained by the fact that at birth the child has no bacteria in the intestines. Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract is a gradual process and occurs along with mother’s milk. Fecal analysis in infants is carried out exclusively for medical reasons.

5 rules for taking stool from a child for analysis:

• Only a sterile container is used;
• It is allowed to collect biomaterial from a diaper or diaper using a special spoon. In a situation where if a child has liquid stool, they can be carefully poured into a container as quickly as possible before absorption into the diaper fabric occurs;
• if collection is carried out from a pot, then it must first be thoroughly washed with baby soap and rinsed well under water;
• the material is taken from at least three different points in order to exclude accidental contamination of the sample with pathogenic microorganisms;
• It is prohibited to collect material from a child after an enema or suppositories, since the natural consistency, color and smell of feces are determined.

Is it possible to collect feces in the evening for tests from a child?

Children are allowed to collect biomaterial after lunch. However, the best option is to deliver plastic containers with stool to the laboratory within three hours.

The rule is of particular importance for examining a patient for dysgroup and dysbacteriosis. Since to implement this study, a microbiological method is used, the essence of which is to inoculate a sample of biomaterial, followed by isolating a pure culture, identifying and implementing a test for the sensitivity of prokaryotes to antibiotics, if necessary. If the material is stored for a long time, the bacteria may die and not grow in the nutrient medium; as a result, the person will receive false negative examination results.

How much stool is needed for a baby test?

In children under 1 year of age, it is necessary to collect at least 1 teaspoon of liquid or formed feces. Beginning in the second year of life, all patients must provide a minimum of 2 teaspoons of stool to the laboratory service.

How long can you store stool for analysis in the refrigerator?

How long can a stool sample be stored? It should be noted that the most preferable option is the fastest possible delivery to laboratory staff for further manipulation. However, it is difficult to predict in advance and combine the act of defecation for each individual person with the working hours of the laboratory service. In this regard, a logical and natural question for patients is: where to store feces for testing?

The best preservation of the material is ensured thanks to the refrigerator. The preferred temperature range is from +2 to + 8 ° C. The lid of the plastic container should be tightly screwed on, and the container itself should be placed in a plastic bag.

The maximum allowable time for the material to remain in the refrigerator is from evening to morning, after which it is immediately delivered to the laboratory. It is not allowed to submit for examination stool that has been stored for more than 6 hours in the refrigerator and for more than 3 hours without it.

Important: Do not place feces in the freezer for storage.

Freezing followed by thawing leads to changes in physical parameters and guarantees unreliable results.

What tests require stool collection?

List of studies in which feces is the biomaterial.

Defecation is a delicate process and does not always obey the will and regime, which makes the question relevant, how long can feces be stored for analysis?

Information value of stool analysis

According to the World Health Organization, on average, each person produces about five tons of feces during his life.

While passing through the body, food, which ceases to be such in the stomach and becomes chyme, goes through a long sequence of processing stages.

Mechanical, chemical and biological effects leave traces on the waste material, which leaves the body in the form of feces, after the work of all organs involved in the digestion process.

These are color, smell, consistency, impurities, possible traces of the presence of helminths, bacteria, and so on. The study of these traces allows us to draw conclusions about the functions of various organs and possible diseases.

Some diseases associated with intestinal dysfunction can be diagnosed without analysis.

The female pathogen, the helminth pinworm, comes out of the anus to lay eggs and lays eggs in the folds of skin around the anus.

The vital activity of pinworms causes such severe itching in the anus, and sometimes in the perineum, that doctors often prescribe treatment even without analysis or after a three-time negative analysis, which also happens.

There is a characteristic of stool that requires immediate consultation with a doctor, even without analysis - the presence of blood in the stool.

The color of the feces may be red - if bleeding is from the lower parts of the gastrointestinal tract - or black - if bleeding is from the esophagus or stomach.

The likelihood that blood in the stool is a sign of a serious illness is much higher in adults, but in children the reasons are usually completely harmless: the motility of the digestive organs is just developing, so a fecal lump can scratch the surface of the intestine and cause bleeding.

However, the symptom is characteristic of an extremely serious disease in children from six months to two years - intussusception, which requires immediate surgery.

It is impossible to determine by eye whether blood in the stool is a cause for concern. For this reason, any rectal bleeding is a reason to immediately consult a doctor.

If any changes in stool - color, consistency, etc., are combined with a deterioration in the general condition (nausea, vomiting, sweating, pale skin), then it is unacceptable to postpone a visit to the doctor.

Rules for collecting stool

Stool analysis is necessary to detect signs of serious infectious diseases, which will be indicated, for example, by white blood cells.

However, the manifestations of severe intestinal infections are obvious even without changes in stool - increased body temperature, blood, pus, mucus. In most cases, this data is sufficient for a competent specialist to make a diagnosis.

Another common reason for stool analysis is the detection of occult blood. With many diseases, sources of bleeding occur in the gastrointestinal tract, but they are not massive enough for the blood to be visible.

Traces of helminths - their eggs - are often looked for in feces.

In order for stool to provide adequate information from a diagnostic point of view, it must be collected correctly.

It is imperative to collect feces in a dry, clean container. Special containers from a pharmacy are best suited, which will help protect the material from foreign impurities.

Many people believe that if you store stool in the refrigerator, you can collect it on Friday and submit it to the laboratory on Monday, but this is a big misconception, and such material is unlikely to be useful, and here's why.

Most of the factors that are looked for in stool do not depend or depend only slightly on the time of collection.

However, the freshness of stool is necessary for the convenience of the laboratory assistant. Dried material is inconvenient to work with and it’s easy to miss something.

In the civilized world, work related to the study of excrement is tried to be automated whenever possible.

Analyzes are performed by machines, which eliminates the human factor in the results and frees up specialists for more comfortable work.

Automated laboratories are already appearing in the post-Soviet space, but in most cases a laboratory assistant works with feces. For its convenience, it is important to follow the rule of freshness of the material.

The fresher the stool, the better. Preparing material in the evening is a convenient way out if you are not sure that your intestines or your child’s intestines will work effectively in the morning. In this case, as already mentioned, the stool sample should be stored in a cool place.

It is very important to collect stool during spontaneous bowel movements; the use of enemas and laxatives reduces the diagnostic value of the material.

Some drugs, for example, barium, used as a contrast agent for some instrumental studies, also force us to postpone stool analysis.

If you are taking any medications, especially iron supplements or anal suppositories, consult your doctor who is referring you for the test.

During the period of collecting material for stool analysis, nutrition is important. It's about about the balance of fats, proteins and carbohydrates at least three days before the collection date.

A bias towards one of them will change the quality characteristics of feces and may lead to incorrect diagnostic conclusions.

Stool analysis for dysbacteriosis

If you live in the post-Soviet space and have any problems with digesting food, the cause of which is difficult to determine immediately, then your doctor will probably refer you to a stool microflora test.

In this case, the questions of how to store feces, where to store it, in which laboratory to do the analysis are not relevant, since the reason for the unreliability of the analysis is its initial diagnostic uselessness.

Bacteria are really important in digestion. Their number in the intestine exceeds the number of all cells human body 1.3 times! Feces are 60% bacteria.

Without them, chyme will not be able to be broken down into valuable components in the small intestine and absorbed into the blood.

In relation to digestion, bacteria can be beneficial, pathogenic, or opportunistic. However, they are all an integral part of the microflora of a healthy person!

Scientists still do not know the quantitative and qualitative relationship various types bacteria in the small intestine, where the body's main activities of digestion and absorption of various components occur.

Adherents of dysbiosis - a disease that is supposedly expressed in a violation of the ratio of beneficial and pathogenic bacteria (when for some reason there are fewer of the former, and more of the latter), rely on stool analysis when making a diagnosis.

At the same time they study:

• the bacterial flora of the large intestine, not the small intestine, which actually takes part in digestion;
• microflora of the intestinal lumen, and not the parietal space, which, again, is involved in the digestion process.

Storing stool for microflora analysis changes the bacterial ratio of the material every second, but is it possible to influence the handling of stool after it remains on the table for collecting material in the clinic?

All these circumstances make stool analysis for dysbacteriosis a useless study, moreover, a diagnosis of a non-existent disease.

In countries with developed medicine, the diagnosis of “dysbacteriosis” was abandoned based on the results of modern research and due to the lack of effective methods for treating this “disease.”

In clinics in the post-Soviet space, one can encounter various treatment methods, even such blasphemous ones as antibiotic therapy in order to sterilize the intestinal contents and its subsequent colonization with the “correct” microflora.

Violation of the microflora is not a disease! If the ratio of bacteria is disturbed, it is necessary to find the cause of this phenomenon, and not to treat a mythical disease.

The accuracy and information content of the obtained analysis result largely depends on how correctly the preparation and collection of biological material and its storage before delivery to the laboratory are carried out.

It is optimal to collect stool for examination in the morning and immediately deliver it to the laboratory. However, this does not always happen; some people have bowel movements during the day or evening, and children can have bowel movements at any time of the day. Therefore, the question of how long the collected material can be stored and under what conditions is very relevant.

When using a preservative, feces on worm eggs can be stored in the refrigerator for 4–6 hours.

How to properly collect stool for research

A week before the stool test, patients are advised to begin following a dairy-plant diet, which improves motor function and ensures daily bowel movements. Strict adherence to the diet is especially important in the event of an upcoming stool test for occult blood using the benzidine test.

To collect stool, you should prepare a disposable container in advance (take it from the laboratory or buy it at the pharmacy) or a small glass jar with a lid. The jar should be thoroughly washed with hot water and baking soda, then rinsed with boiling water or treated with steam and dried. However, it is better to use a disposable sterile container with a special spoon built into its lid, especially if a bacteriological examination or stool test for dysbacteriosis is prescribed in the container. Many laboratories refuse to accept material for research in any container other than standard.

You should also prepare in advance a pot or vessel where defecation will take place. They must be washed thoroughly, doused with boiling water and dried. In infants, feces are collected from a diaper or nappy.

Immediately before defecation, you should empty your bladder and perform a thorough toilet of the genitals. After bowel movement, a small volume of fecal matter, approximately 2-3 cm3, is taken from several places using a spoon built into the lid of the container. They should be placed in a container and then tightly closed with a lid.

Submitting stool for analysis is undesirable on days of menstrual bleeding in women, as well as earlier than 48 hours after performing diagnostic or therapeutic procedures affecting the intestines (enemas, colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, contrast fluoroscopy of the stomach and intestines).

The shelf life of fresh feces for coprogram does not exceed eight hours if it is stored on the middle shelf of the refrigerator in a tightly closed container.

If the patient takes laxatives, sorbents or uses rectal suppositories, then a stool test should be taken no earlier than 72 hours after the last time they were taken.

Features of material storage depending on the type of research

To assess the functions of the digestive system, identify bacterial infections and helminthic infestations, different types of laboratory tests of stool are performed:

• general (clinical) analysis, or coprogram;
• fecal analysis for helminth eggs;
• bacteriological examination;
• dysbacteriosis test;
• occult blood test.

The answer to this question, how many hours before the collected feces should be delivered to the laboratory, also depends on what kind of research will be carried out.

General stool analysis: how long can stool be stored in the refrigerator?

The shelf life of fresh feces for coprogram does not exceed eight hours if it is stored on the middle shelf of the refrigerator in a tightly closed container. The middle shelf of the refrigerator provides a temperature range of 4–8 °C. Under no circumstances should you place a container with biomaterial in the freezer or on the side shelf of the refrigerator. Sub-zero temperature in the first case or frequent temperature changes as a result of opening and closing the refrigerator in the second negatively affect the natural parameters of feces, which will lead to distortion of the analysis result. It is quite possible to store material on the middle shelf of the refrigerator from evening until morning. The main thing is that the storage time of feces at room temperature is minimal, ideally it should not exceed 15-20 minutes.

Feces for analysis for dysbacteriosis must be delivered to the laboratory no later than three hours after collection.

Preservation of stool for analysis of worm eggs

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Collection and preservation of stool for analysis of dysbacteriosis

A stool test for dysbacteriosis is a microbiological study of the characteristics of the microbial flora of the human intestine, which allows one to assess the relationship between three groups of microorganisms:

• beneficial (colibacteria, bifidumbacteria and lactobacilli);
• opportunistic (staphylococci, enterobacteria, fungi, clostridia);
• pathogenic (Shigella, Salmonella).

Even minor violations of the rules for collecting fecal matter or storing it before delivery to the laboratory lead to a change in this ratio. As a result, the information value of the obtained research result is sharply reduced, which can lead to incorrect diagnosis and, accordingly, incorrectly prescribed treatment.

Feces for testing for bacteriosis should be collected before starting treatment with chemotherapy or antibacterial drugs. If for some reason this is not possible, then at least 12 hours must pass after the last dose of the drug.

72 hours before collecting the material, the patient is discontinued from all types of laxatives, including Vaseline or castor oil, as well as any rectal medications. Stool obtained after an X-ray examination of the intestine using contrast or an enema is not suitable for research.

It is optimal to collect stool for examination in the morning and immediately deliver it to the laboratory.

The vessel where defecation will take place is thoroughly washed with hot water, rinsed with a disinfectant solution (0.5% chloramine solution, pale pink solution of potassium permanganate, furatsilin solution), then doused with boiling water and dried.

In the morning, the patient urinates in the toilet, then performs toileting of the genitals. After self-defecation in a bedpan, using a spoon built into the lid of a disposable container for biomaterial, take feces from several areas and place them in the container, filling it to 1/3 of the volume, and close the lid.

Feces for analysis for dysbacteriosis must be delivered to the laboratory no later than three hours after collection. During this entire time, it is advisable to store the container at a temperature of 4-8 ° C, covering it with ice cubes or placing it in a cold pack. As a last resort, it is possible to store stool in the refrigerator for up to 5-6 hours, however, the reliability of the result is considered reduced.

Mandatory conditions for collecting and storing stool for analysis for dysbacteriosis:

• avoiding freezing of feces;
• avoid storing the collected material for more than 6 hours before sowing on nutrient media;
• use for collecting material only a sterile disposable container obtained in the laboratory or purchased at a pharmacy;
• storage and transportation of stool to the laboratory only in a tightly closed container.

Testing stool for worm eggs becomes a serious problem for many patients. Emptying the bowel is a specific process, and rarely can anyone do it on demand. Therefore, the question of how long a stool sample can be stored is not only a delicate, but also a relevant topic.

If we talk about the ideal functioning of the human body, when a person has a healthy stomach and intestines, the process of defecation is carried out every day, usually in the morning. But with many pathologies and disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, it is quite difficult to obtain stool for analysis because the stool is irregular.

Due to the importance, and in some situations, irreplaceability of the study, it is necessary to find out how long stool can be stored for testing for eggworm. And also figure out whether it is possible to store the collected feces for analysis in the refrigerator?

Collection rules for analyzes

There are certain rules that outline how to properly collect feces so that the study of feces in the laboratory shows reliable results.

If the patient has had an enema, the test is allowed only two days after it was performed.

24 hours before collecting feces, it is strictly forbidden to use suppositories (and this rule applies to suppositories with medicinal and laxative effects); You should give up laxative tablets, drops and medicinal herbs with a laxative effect; It is forbidden to take sorbents - these are activated carbon and other medications.

Many doctors recommend following a certain health-improving diet a week before the procedure: eliminating fatty, fried, spicy and salty foods from your diet. It is advisable to include a lot of vegetables and dairy products in the menu. This advice helps to collect reliable biological material, while also facilitating regular morning bowel movements.

• When a newborn baby is about to donate stool, parents should not introduce new foods into his diet two weeks before the event.
• Before collecting feces, it is necessary to carry out intimate hygiene procedures - this rule applies to both adults and children.
• It is necessary to ensure that urine does not get into the feces - these two human biological fluids cannot be mixed.
• The act of defecation is carried out in a clean, and most importantly dry container. For such an intimate purpose, a dry bucket, a children's potty or a large basin are suitable. As for a too small child, the analysis can be collected from a diaper.
• When a patient has constipation and cannot empty his bowels on his own, this problem needs to be resolved with a doctor.

Undoubtedly, it is difficult for the body to order in this delicate matter, but the most reliable stool analysis is biological material that was collected in the morning and literally delivered to the laboratory within one or two hours.

That is, if you combine all the information described above, you can derive the following steps of the patient:

1. Emptying the bladder.
2. Intimate hygiene procedures with soapy water.
3. The act of defecation, and the subsequent collection of biological material.

Regarding the last point, special containers for storing feces can be purchased at the pharmacy.

As a rule, it comes with a special spatula, with which you need to separate a small amount of feces, put it in a container, and close it with a lid.

Stool analysis for worms, how long does it last?

In addition, this analysis is necessary when many medical documents are drawn up. For example, a health record when a child enters a kindergarten, school, or when traveling to sanatoriums and summer camps.

The preferred time for collection is morning, not night, and then immediate delivery of the container of materials to the laboratory is necessary. However, if the analysis is done in the evening or at night, then it is permissible to store the stool test for worm eggs in the refrigerator for no more than 8 hours.

It is worth noting that when we talk about 8 hours, this is the full shelf life, that is, this includes the time when the stool analysis is stored in the refrigerator from the evening until the morning, travel time, as well as preparation for the study itself in the laboratory. If we exclude such events, then the maximum storage time for the analysis is 5-6 hours, no more.

It is clear that feces can be stored in the refrigerator, but to preserve it, there are certain recommendations:

• It is prohibited to store for a long time.
• A jar (container) with feces should not be kept at the bottom of the refrigerator.
• Store feces in the refrigerator only on the middle shelf.

It is worth noting that feces cannot be stored in the freezer, since high temperatures help destroy all biological properties necessary for a full study.

If the patient calls a courier who delivers the tests to the laboratory, he will have a special refrigerated bag, and the test will reach the place in ideal conditions.

If the analysis is delivered independently, then the container needs to be wrapped in paper in several layers, then wrapped in a towel - such actions will create the property of a thermos and will maintain the optimal temperature for a certain period of time.

Containers for material, storage features

Having found out where to store the analysis, it is necessary to talk about containers for biological material. Definitely, the ideal option is a plastic container for storage and subsequent delivery of the analysis.

You can purchase special containers for feces at the pharmacy. Such a container in appearance resembles a cylinder, which has a narrow diameter and an elongated shape. Inside there is a special spatula or flat stick with which you can collect the material and place it for storage.

It is worth noting that such containers are sterile, so it is not recommended to open them ahead of time. The container must be unpacked immediately before collecting stool. The packaging additionally contains instructions for use, with detailed information about the process of use.

In a situation where there is no desire to buy a container at the pharmacy, or there is no such possibility in this particular situation, then an alternative would be a small glass jar with a screw-on lid.

Features of storage in glass containers:

1. The jar must be made of glass; do not use containers, plastic jars or other containers that have been in storage for tests for worms. Even thorough washing makes such containers unsterile, and pathogenic microorganisms may settle on the plastic.
2. Before use, the glass jar is washed with soda or laundry soap; upon completion, it must be scalded with boiling liquid.
3. The jar needs to be dried.

Knowing that he will soon have to take a “stool” test, the patient needs to consciously approach the organization of his lifestyle, and then there is no need to store feces in a cold place for a long period of time, or worry that the shelf life will expire. In the video in this article, the specialist will continue the topic of tests for worms.