Surveillance Collection Information

Please contact Montana Public Health laboratory with questions.

Salmonella Spp.

• Stool in Cary-Blair transport or other commercial enteric transport media, or pure culture isolate in Cary Blair transport or on solid media.

Toxigenic Escherichia Coli or STEC positive broth

• Stool specimen in Cary-Blair transport, or other commercial enteric transport media, or pure culture Escherichia coli isolate submitted in Cary Blair transport or on solid media.

Shigella Spp.

• Stool in Cary-Blair Transport or other commercial enteric transport media, or pure culture isolate in Cary Blair transport or on solid media.

Campylobacter spp. or EIA positive specimens

• Stool in submitted in Cary-Blair transport or pure culture isolate on solid media sent in a Campylobacter transport system.

Listeria Spp.

• Send pure culture isolate on solid media.

Vibrio Spp.

• Stool in Cary-Blair transport or other commercial enteric transport media, or pure culture isolate submitted in Cary-Blair transport or on solid media. Specify species on request form.

Neisseria Gonorrheae

• Primary culture or pure culture isolate on MTM or chocolate media; identification performed by MALDI-TOF.

Invasive Neisseria Meningitidis

• Primary specimen or pure culture isolate on chocolate media.
  • Serogrouping is routinely performed on N. meningitidis isolates from sterile body sites such as blood or cerebral spinal fluid. Please submit all N. meningitidis isolates from sterile body sites to the laboratory for serogrouping and storage for future epidemiologic purposes.

Invasive Haemophilus influenza

• Primary specimen or pure culture isolate on chocolate media.

  • Serogrouping is routinely performed on H. influenzae isolates from sterile body sites such as blood or cerebral spinal fluid. Please submit all H. influenzae isolates from sterile body sites to the laboratory for serogrouping and storage for future epidemiologic purposes.

Suspected VISA, VRSA, and CRE

• Pure culture isolate submitted in Cary-Blair transport or on solid media.

Drug Resistant S. Pneumoniae

• Send non-fastidious Gram negative or Gram-positive isolates on solid media. Fastidious or slow growing organisms require careful transport on an enriched agar medium.

Isolates with Unusual Resistance Patterns

• Confirmation testing for an isolate that demonstrates a resistance pattern with high epidemiologic significance such as potential Vancomycin Intermediate or Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci, ESBL producing Enterobacteriaceae, or resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae.

• Pure culture isolate submitted on solid media.

Outbreak Associated Organisms

• Pure culture isolate submitted in Cary-Blair transport or on solid media.

• Submit organisms that are of epidemiologic interest and need to be stored for molecular comparison to other strains. Laboratories are encouraged to submit organisms which may be part of an outbreak.