SWAB BACTERIAL CULTURE

Service Description

What is a Bacteria Culture Test? Bacteria are one-celled organisms. There are many different kinds of bacteria. They live just about everywhere in your body and on your skin. Some types of bacteria are harmless or even helpful. Others can cause infections and disease. A bacteria culture test can help find harmful bacteria in or on your body that may be making you sick. To do the test, you will need to give a sample of your blood, urine, skin, or other tissue. The type of sample depends on where the infection seems to be located. To find out what type of bacteria you may have, a health care professional will need to examine a large number of bacteria cells. So, your sample will be sent to a lab where the bacteria cells will be grown until there are enough for the test. Test results are often ready within a few days. But some types of bacteria grow slowly, so sometimes your results may take several days or longer. What is it used for? Bacteria culture tests are used to help diagnose certain types of infections.