Technique for specimen collection of postsurgical exudate of wounds.

Postsurgical sepsis due to anaerobic microoganisms is often difficult to diagnose. The difficulty arises primarily because of inadequate specimen collection techniques and because of delays in the transport of the specimen to the microbiologic laboratory. Three acceptable techniques for anaerobic specimen collection and transportation have been offered. All of these techniques have in common the minimization of contact between the collected specimen and the atmosphere, a step which helps to preserve the viability of many of the fastidious anaerobic bacteria frequently implicated in surgical sepsis.