Swab for collecting biological specimens

Abstract

The present invention relates to a swab for collecting biological specimens of the type consisting of a rod terminating in a tip covered with fiber with hydrophilic properties to allow absorption of said specimens, wherein said fiber covers said tip in the form of a layer deposited by flocking.

Claims

1. A biological specimen collection swab configured for collecting biological specimen to be analyzed, the swab comprising: a rod, terminating in a tip; and a layer of fibers which were disposed on a surface of the tip by flocking in an oriented manner in an electrostatic field, the layer of fibers having a thickness of 0.6 to 3 mm and being configured to have capillarity hydrophilic properties and configured to be capable of absorbing at least a quantity of 40 l of liquid in the layer of fibers on the tip of the rod.

2. The swab according to claim 1 wherein said layer of fibers is configured to be capable of absorbing at least a quantity of 100 l of liquid in the layer of fibers on the tip of the rod.

3. The swab according to claim 1 wherein said layer of fibers is configured to absorb said specimen by capillarity effect.

4. The swab according to claim 1 wherein said layer of fibers has an amount of fibers capable of absorbing said quantity of liquid.

5. The swab according to claim 1 wherein said fibers define capillaries conferring hydrophilic properties to the layer of fibers by capillarity.

6. The swab according to claim 1 wherein said layer of fibers was disposed on the surface of the tip by a flocking technique in which the fibers were deposited in an ordered manner on the tip of the rod.

7. The swab according to claim 1 wherein said layer of fibers was disposed on the surface of the tip by a flocking technique in which the fibers were deposited perpendicularly to the surface of the tip of the rod.

8. The swab according to claim 1, wherein said layer of fibers is directly deposited on a surface of said tip and/or wherein the layer of fibers covers the tip of the rod.

9. The swab according to claim 1 wherein said fibers have a length of 0.6 to 3 mm.

10. The swab according to claim 1, wherein said layer of fibers has a fiber count of 1.7 to 3.3 Dtex.

11. The swab according to claim 1, wherein said rod is a plastic rod and wherein the tip of the rod is rigid.

12. The swab according to claim 1, wherein said rod is a plastic rod and has a diameter from 1 mm to 2.5 mm.

13. The swab according to claim 1, wherein the fibers are made of polyester and/or polyamide.

14. A method of collecting a specimen comprising liquid by using a swab according to claim 1, the method comprising the step of collecting a specimen by absorbing a quantity of at least 40 l of said liquid in said layer of fibers disposed on the tip of the rod.

15. The method of claim 14 in which at least 100 l of said liquid is absorbed in said layer of fibers disposed on the tip of the rod during said step of collecting a specimen.

16. The method of claim 14 in which said liquid is absorbed in said layer of fibers on the tip of the rod by capillarity effect during said step of collecting a specimen.

17. The method according to claim 14 further comprising steps of storing and transporting said quantity of specimen in said layer of fibers and/or a step of releasing said quantity of specimen from said layer of fibers and/or a step of analyzing said quantity of specimen.

18. A biological specimen collection swab configured for collecting biological specimen to be analyzed, the swab comprising: a rod, terminating in a tip; and a layer of fibers which were disposed on a surface of the tip by flocking in an oriented manner in an electrostatic field, the fibers having a length of 0.6 to 3 mm and the layer of fibers being configured to have capillarity hydrophilic properties and configured to be capable of absorbing at least a quantity of 40 l of liquid in the layer of fibers on the tip of the rod.

19. The swab according to claim 18 wherein said layer of fibers is configured to be capable of absorbing at least a quantity of 100 l of liquid in the layer of fibers on the tip of the rod.

20. The swab according to claim 18, wherein said layer of fibers has a fiber count of 1.7 to 3.3 Dtex.

21. The swab according to claim 18, wherein said rod is a plastic rod and wherein the tip of the rod is rigid.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

(1) FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of the two components of a device in accordance with the example, that is the swab and test-tube, whereby the test-tube is partially sectioned longitudinally.

(2) FIG. 2 shows an enlarged detail of the swab of FIG. 1 in section.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(3) With reference to said figures, a device of the invention in accordance with the illustrated example comprises an essentially cylindrical test-tube containing a culture medium in gel form 11, presenting a free surface level 12 inside the test-tube.

(4) The upper open end of the test-tube presents a collar 13 for receiving a closure means.

(5) The device is completed by a swab 20 consisting of a rod 14 carrying at one end a stopper 15 which has to act as the closure means of the test-tube and is hence shaped so that it can engage, for example by snap-engaging, with the collar 13 of the test-tube.

(6) At the opposite end, the rod 14 terminates with a tip 16 carrying a suitable means, for example a layer of fibre 17, for collecting the specimen to be analysed. In the illustrated example, said tip 16 of the rod is shaped in a rounded geometry, similar to an ogive, and said fibre 17 being disposed as a layer of uniform thickness.

(7) In general terms, in accordance with the fundamental characteristic of the invention, said fibre with hydrophilic properties is deposited by means of flocking. The flocking technique is preferably of the type conducted in an electrostatic field which deposits the fibres in an ordered manner, perpendicular to the surface of the tip of the swab rod, which has been previously coated with adhesive for example by immersion or spraying.

(8) The fibre which is to form the flocked layer is subjected to an electrostatic field, and is hence deposited in an oriented manner and anchored to the surface of the tip, being retained by the adhesive.

(9) The adhesive is preferably water-based: once dried it enables the fibre to be anchored in a stable manner to the swab and to resist abrasion.

(10) The flocked swab is then dried by exposing it to a source of heat or radio-frequency.

(11) The tip of the swab stem is covered with a layer of fibre, preferably of uniform thickness, and from 0.6 to 3 mm thick. The fibre count, i.e. the weight in grams per 10,000 linear meters of a single fibre, is preferably between 1.7 and 3.3 Dtex. In particular, a fibre of 0.6 mm length and 1.7 Dtex can be applied by flocking to obtain a fine nap, and a fibre up to 3 mm in length and 3.3 Dtex can be applied to obtain a long nap, obtaining, for values intermediate between the aforedefined, corresponding intermediate characteristics of thickness and fineness of the flocked layer.

(12) Within the wide choice of such values, the expedient to be respected according to the objects of the invention is to maintain an ordered arrangement of the fibres, substantially parallel to each other and normal to the surface of the rod, avoiding any overlapping of fibres which can occur if the nap is too long. Indeed, in this manner the capillary represented by each fibre, by virtue of which it can carry out its task of absorbing and releasing essentially the same quantity of specimen, remains unimpaired and functional.

(13) The amount of fibre to be deposited for forming the flocked layer in accordance with the invention is determined on the basis of the type of fibre and the pre-chosen layer characteristics of thickness and fineness, in such a manner as to enable 100 microliters of specimen to be absorbed.

(14) In accordance with the objects of the invention, the fibre is chosen from a wide range of materials provided they are hydrophilic by capillarity, such as for example, synthetic or artificial materials e.g. rayon, polyester, polyamide, carbon fibre or alginate, natural materials e.g. cotton and silk, or mixtures thereof.

EXAMPLES

(15) Some preparative examples are now given of a swab according to the invention.

(16) Such examples are not intended in any way to limit the scope of the invention.

Example 1

(17) A swab is prepared using a plastic rod, suitable for human clinical collection, of diameter 2.5 mm which decreases to 1 mm over a length of about 6 cm.

(18) The tip of the part with the smallest diameter is dipped in or sprayed with an adhesive, then the rod is placed vertically in a flocking apparatus in electrostatic field to deposit a polyamide flock.

(19) The polyamide flock of 0.7 mm length and 1.7 Dtex allows 0.5 l per mm.sup.2 to be absorbed, therefore by flocking the 10 mm long tip of said rod the absorbing capacity obtained is 40 l.

Example 2

(20) Proceeding as per example 1, a rod with a spatulate end is used, suited for example to collecting organic specimens from the oral cavity of a patient.

(21) Polyester fibre of 1 mm length and 1.7 Dtex count are used for the flocking.

Example 3

(22) Proceeding as per examples 1 and 2, polyester fibre of 2 mm length and 2.5 Dtex count is used.

(23) Continuing in general terms, it is calculated that a swab of the invention is capable of releasing about 90% of the absorbed specimen by swabbing, in this manner considerably increasing the sensitivity of the analysis compared with swabs of the known art, in particular by almost completely eliminating the risk of false negatives resulting from the incomplete release of the collected specimen from swab to test plate.

(24) In addition, the fact of being able to form, according to the invention, a fibre layer of any thickness, even very small, around the tip of the rod rather than a mass to cover it, as in the known art, means that the required rounded shape of the swab, i.e. free of edges, no longer has to depend on the mass of fibre itself but on the tip of the rod, which can therefore be preferably shaped into a round form, as indeed occurs In the aforedescribed example and shown in the accompanying drawings.

(25) Particularly in specific cases where swabs of the greatest possible thinness are required, for example urethral or ocular, this represents a further definite advantage over known swabs. Indeed a swab can be provided with a rounded tip by virtue of its shaping, around which a thin layer of fibre is deposited by flocking to allow on the one hand collection of a sufficient quantity of specimen for analysis, and on the other to minimize the total bulk of the part of the swab which is to penetrate the urethra, in consequence so reducing the discomfort of the patient undergoing the collection procedure.

(26) The shape given to the tip of the swab nevertheless varies greatly according to the type of collection it is intended for, and can even be truncated or have edges when the type of collection (for example oral) allows it.

(27) According to the invention, the type of adhesive, type of fibre and fibre characteristics, such as length and count, are in any case chosen from a wide range of options in order to obtain an ideal specific marker for identifying the microbiological specimen, whether by a direct diagnostic technique, by immune-test, or by molecular biology techniques such as PCR, or with other known culturing, enrichment or selection techniques.

(28) The specimen to be collected with a swab of the invention generally consists of bacteria or viruses or DNA or RNA or a mixture thereof.