Medical Swab Types and Introduction

Do you know what a swab is? A swab is a small mass of absorbent material wrapped around one end of a small stick, which can be used in a variety of scenarios, the most common being a sampling swab. In this article, you can get the following information:

1. Classification of sampling swabs

2. The material of the sampling swab

3. What types of common sampling swabs are there?

1. Classification of sampling swabs

Medical swabs are classified according to their materials, including cotton, flocking, sponge, rayon, calcium alginate, polyester fiber and other swabs;

Divided by use: throat swab, nasal swab (anterior nasal swab, middle turbinate swab), nasopharyngeal swab, ear swab, anal swab, high vaginal swab, cervical sampling swab, male swab, Female swabs, etc.

2. The material of the sampling swab

Medical swabs are mainly composed of two parts: the swab head and the swab rod.

Swab head: cotton, flocking, sponge, rayon, calcium alginate, polyester fiber, etc.

Swab Rod: Wood, PP or PS

3. What types of common sampling swabs are there?

There are many ways to classify swabs. Let's introduce medical swabs according to their uses.

1）Throat Swab

Function: check upper respiratory tract diseases, such as diphtheria, acute suppurative tonsillitis, acute pharyngitis, etc.

Working way: take the secretions from the throat, carry out bacterial culture, and then conduct a drug susceptibility test according to the infected bacteria.

Can provide an important basis for clinical medication with the results of throat swab examination.

Mild neurological reflexes for patients when undergoing throat swabs, but easy to tolerate for most people.

2）Nasal Swab

Disposable nasopharyngeal swab also can be called nasal swab,

Function: collect secretions from the nasopharynx for rapid diagnosis of respiratory virus infection or carrier status.

The advantages: the operator can stand behind the subject to operate, without looking directly at the mouth, and no gag reflex occurs basically, the good tolerance, and the relatively low risk of exposure.

The more efficient viral nucleic acid detection sensitivity nasal swabs than throat swabs.

3）Oral Swab

Function: oral sampling and DNA sampling.

The principle: collect oral epithelial mucosal cells and complete the identification by detecting the DNA in these cells.

An advantage of nylon flocked swabs: have a better effect on the collection and transportation of clinical biological samples, especially for unsent samples and long-time-storage samples for inspection. (Compared with ordinary sterile swabs)

One-time use, take high collection volume, good release, and high comfort.

4）Male Swab

Composition: swab cap plug, swab rod, swab head and swab tube body.

Application: specimen collection of the urethra and other parts.

5）Female Swab

Composition: swab cap plug, swab rod, swab head and swab tube body.

Application: specimen collection of the vagina, urogenital tract, and other parts.

6）Cervical swab

Cervical sampling swab is mainly used for the collection of HPV, vagina, cervix and other parts. It is suitable for the TCT liquid-based cytology picture system.

The collected cervical epithelial cells are collected, and the advanced thin-layer liquid-based cytology (TCT) is used to observe the cervical cells under the microscope to check whether the cervical cells are abnormal.

7）Transport Swab with Medium

The sample storing time in the sampling tube: for 72 hours, protect the properties and physiological activities of the samples, and improve the accuracy of the diagnosis results.

A variety of media is available, to meet a variety of experimental needs.

Six types are classified: Amies medium, Amies with Charcoal, Stuart medium, Stuart with Charcoal, Cary-Blair medium, Cary-Blair with Charcoal. 

Amies used for: Escherichia coli.

Stuart used for: Gonococcus.

Cary-Blair used for: Campylobacter jejuni, Bacillus cholerae, Salmonella, Shigella.